Sutil was in talks with Force India to renew his contract, and on 27 November 2009, the team announced that the German's contract had been renewed, while test-driver Vitantonio Liuzzi was given a full-time race seat. Sutil qualified tenth for the first two races of the year, but a collision with Robert Kubica in Bahrain and a mechanical failure in Australia meant he was unable to score points in either race. However, Sutil commented that the performances proved that the team could now score points in dry races. This comment was backed up by Sutil's fifth-place finish in the following race in Malaysia. In China he finished 11th. In Spain he finished 7th and in Monaco he finished 8th. Sutil again finished in the points in Turkey with a 9th place. He followed this result with points scoring finishes in the next three rounds in Canada, Europe and Britain.