According to team boss Vijay Mallya, Giancarlo Fisichella appears certain to be retained by Force India for the 2009 F1 season.
Force India boss values Italian's experience
According to team boss Vijay Mallya, Giancarlo Fisichella appears certain to be retained by Force India for the 2009 Formula One season.
The 35-year-old Italian veteran joined the Silverstone-based outfit at the start of this year from Renault.
And, although Fisichella has yet to score a championship point, his experience is clearly a commodity Mallya values.
"This team needs the experience of Giancarlo, has needed it, and as we design the 2009 car, needs it even more," team co-owner Mallya said at the Belgian Grand Prix.
"This team has never had the benefit in the last two or three years of an experienced driver.
"To give you an example, I race horses, and what the jockey tells you, no-one else can.
"You can have the best trainer in the world, but you need a jockey to tell you how good or bad the horse is.
"Similarly, I firmly believe driver feedback on a car is invaluable and that is why Giancarlo is performing a very valuable role for us."
Unchanged
As with Fisichella, no formal announcement has yet been made on the future of team-mate Adrian Sutil although Mallya hinted Force India will likely field an unchanged driver line-up.
Mallya said: "I have contracts and an option on both. As far as I'm concerned, if you look around, who is available?"
One option Mallya is ruling out - at least for next season - is Indian driver Karun Chandhok, currently one of the pacesetters in the GP2 support series.
"I would love to give Karun a go as a test driver first," Mallya added.
"He is a year away from a race seat. I need to see him consistently winning in GP2, not an odd race here and there.
"He has it in him to do it, and when he does it, then sure, I would love to have an Indian driver in the car if I could.
"But at the end of the day, on one hand I cannot be encouraging the team's performance, and then doing something that might compromise the result.
"I don't believe he is there yet. I'm not saying he won't get there, but I am hoping he will."
