Force India have confirmed that they will promote Nico Hulkenberg to the race team alongside Paul di Resta for 2012, with Adrian Sutil losing his drive.
The decision had been strongly rumoured for several months, but was only officially announced today.
Hulkenberg spent this season as Force India's reserve and Friday practice driver, after racing for Williams in 2010 - when he scored a famous pole position in Brazil.
Team boss Vijay Mallya said the promise Hulkenberg showed in his practice appearances and di Resta's impressive acclimatisation to Formula 1 in his rookie campaign made them the obvious choices for next year's race drives.
"I think Paul caught the eye of everybody in the pitlane during his rookie season," said Mallya.
"His speed, maturity and racecraft confirmed that we were right to believe in him and we look forward to working with him again next year.
"As for Nico, we identified him as a rising star at the end of 2010 and chose to evaluate him during the course of this season.
"Despite having only limited time in the car, he convinced us that he deserved a race seat for 2012."
Hulkenberg admitted being out of a race seat for a whole year had been tough to bear, but was glad it had paid off.
"It wasn't easy to watch from the sidelines this season, but I did my best to help the team and show what I was capable of," he said.
"I'm extremely motivated for 2012 and would like to thank everyone for believing in me and giving me this chance."
Di Resta took 13th in the championship in his maiden F1 season after a long and successful stint in the DTM touring car series as a protege of Mercedes, with a sixth in the Singapore Grand Prix his best result of 2011.
The Scot was thrilled to be kept on for a second year.
""I've said all along that I love being part of this team: they are ambitious, hungry for success and we work well together," said di Resta.
"I'm really excited about 2012 and there is a real sense of belief that we can continue to push the top teams and take another step forward."