Force India retain Fisichella and Sutil for 2009

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Force India have confirmed an unchanged driver line-up for the 2009 season. Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil will continue as race drivers, with Vitantonio Liuzzi also retained as the team’s official test and reserve driver.

The announcement means Force India have complete continuity for their second season of Formula One competition and ends speculation that their recent tie-up with McLaren would prompt driver changes.

“I firmly believe that next year will be a huge opportunity for this team,” team boss Vijay Mallya told Force India's official website. “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. In Giancarlo, Adrian and Tonio we have a wonderful balance between experience and ambition and now complete consistency.”

Fisichella, 35, returned to the Silverstone-based team for the 2008 season, having previously driven for them in their Jordan days, while Sutil, 25, made his F1 race debut with the team, then Spyker, in 2007.