Force India keep faith in drivers for next year
Giancarlo Fisichella joined Force India from Renault
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Friday, 17, Oct 2008 08:33
Force India has decided to retain their drivers for next season despite a disastrous year.
Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil have yet to score a point for the team, which is made its debut in Formula One this year.
Force India, backed by tycoon Vijay Mallya, is the only team without a constructors point with two races left.
The pair were the slowest in the first practice session for Sunday's Chinese grand prix.
German Sutil admitted he was disappointed with his displays in this campaign.
"I think it is just time to finish this season and hopefully we will do a better one next one," the 25-year-old said.
"With Giancarlo I had a good team-mate. He was pushing me all the time and I really saw myself progressing and growing, so right now I am feeling very, very good."
Sutil endured heartache at the Monaco grand prix when he was shunted by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen when he was poised to finish fourth.
Fisichella's best finish so far this season was tenth at the Spanish Grand Prix while Sutil's best position was 13th in Belgium.
Mallya, chairman of the United Breweries Group, said he has been talking to Mercedes about replacing Ferrari to supply the car's engine, gearbox and Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS).
"That's our requirement and we can't do without any one component," Mallya said.
"So negotiations continue and I'm hoping that we will be able to finalise something sooner rather than later because we need to finish this season, get on with testing and be prepared for a significantly improved performance by the team in 2009."