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Force India retain Sutil, Fisichella for 2009 season
Force India announced an unchanged driver line-up for the 2009 F1 Championship with Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil continuing as the race drivers.
- Press Trust of India
- Updated: December 14, 2008 04:23 PM IST
Read Time:2 min
New Delhi:
Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi was also retained as the official test and reserve driver for the Formula One outfit.
Following the outfit's technical partnership with McLaren-Mercedes, there was speculation that McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa might replace either Fisichella or Sutil.
Force India, however, said in a statement that both the 35-year-old Fisichella and the 25-year-old Sutil would continue their stint with the side.
"I firmly believe that next year will be a huge opportunity for this team," Mallya said.
He said he did listen to the advice from the McLaren top brass but in the end, finalising the line-up was essentially his own decision.
"We have a new technical partnership with McLaren and Mercedes, a dynamic new management structure and now one of the most solid driver line-ups on the grid. We certainly welcomed the insight and advice of our new partners in this matter, however the choice was entirely ours based on the current talent available in the market today," he said.
"In Giancarlo, Adrian and Tonio we have a wonderful balance between experience and ambition and now complete consistency," added Mallya
Ending all speculation, Force India on Sunday announced an unchanged driver line-up for the 2009 Formula One Championship with Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil continuing as the race drivers for the Vijay Mallya-owned outfit.Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi was also retained as the official test and reserve driver for the Formula One outfit.
Following the outfit's technical partnership with McLaren-Mercedes, there was speculation that McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa might replace either Fisichella or Sutil.
Force India, however, said in a statement that both the 35-year-old Fisichella and the 25-year-old Sutil would continue their stint with the side.
"I firmly believe that next year will be a huge opportunity for this team," Mallya said.
He said he did listen to the advice from the McLaren top brass but in the end, finalising the line-up was essentially his own decision.
"We have a new technical partnership with McLaren and Mercedes, a dynamic new management structure and now one of the most solid driver line-ups on the grid. We certainly welcomed the insight and advice of our new partners in this matter, however the choice was entirely ours based on the current talent available in the market today," he said.
"In Giancarlo, Adrian and Tonio we have a wonderful balance between experience and ambition and now complete consistency," added Mallya
Topics mentioned in this article
Formula 1 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India Kimi Raikkonen Adrian Sutil
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