Force India keep Fisichella and Sutil

Giancarlo Fisichella will continue for a second season, while 2009 will be Adrian Sutil's third as a race driver with the team he joined as a test driver in 2006. Vitantonio Liuzzi has also been retained as the team's official test and reserve driver.

The announcement puts an end to speculation that McLaren or Mercedes contracted drivers, such as Paul di Resta and Gary Paffett, would fill at least one of the Force India seats next season.

Team boss Vijay Mallya is confident that maintaining the same line-up will give the team the best chance to make the most of their technical partnership with McLaren-Mercedes.

"I firmly believe that next year will be a huge opportunity for this team," he said. "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."