Hamburg - The Force India Formula One team ended speculation about its driver line-up for the 2009 season Saturday by confirming it will continue with Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella. Force India also confirmed that Vitantonio Liuzzi will be retained as the official test and reserve driver "to give complete driver continuity" for the team's second season in F1.
Earlier this week, team boss Vijay Mallya re-opened the issue of who would drive for Force India in 2009 when he said in an interview that he was yet to finalise his driver line-up.
Mallya said in October that the pair would continue in 2009 but told the BBC on Thursday that his team's newly signed technical link- up with McLaren to use the same engines, gearbox and hydraulics as McLaren-Mercedes had changed things.
"We haven't finalised anything on the race seat," he said. "I will discuss this issue with McLaren and take this decision at an appropriate time."
But the issue has now been settled with Mallya happy to continue with the 35-year-old Fisichella and Sutil.
"I firmly believe that next year will be a huge opportunity for this team. 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," said Mallya in a statement.
"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. In Giancarlo, Adrian and Tonio we have a wonderful balance between experience and ambition and now complete consistency."
Sutil, who has a contract with the team until the end of the 2009 season told Deutsche Presse-Agentur that the announcement was unexpected for him.
"I never doubted for a second that I would be driving for Force India in 2009," said the 25-year-old German.
