• Jarno Trulli expected to sign a contract in the next few days • 34-year-old Italian has won one grand prix at Monaco in 2004

Jarno Trulli, the Italian driver who scored his sole Formula One victory at Monaco in 2004 at the wheel of a Renault, is expected to be named within the next few days as the number one driver for the re-emergent Lotus team.

Lotus team principal, Tony Fernandes, the Malaysian aviation tycoon who founded the budget airline AirAsia, last week hinted that Trulli was "definitely on the list" of preferred drivers and it now appears that the 34-year-old from Pescara is poised to finalise a contract to drive the new Cosworth-engined machine next year.

If so, Trulli will be picking up the threads of a long-established partnership with Mike Gascoyne, the former Renault and Toyota technical director who has been appointed to the same role with Lotus.