Sutil: Management change helped team

Former team principal Kolles and chief technical officer Gascoyne were both released by Force India co-owner Vijay Mallya shortly before the team's technical partnership with McLaren-Mercedes was finalised last winter.

Although Sutil enjoyed a close relationship with Kolles, his former Formula 3 team boss, he admitted that the atmosphere in the team was better following the management changes.

"It was nice to have (Kolles) for the last years," Sutil told autosport.com. "He did a lot for the team. He was always 100 percent. But okay, there were some problems in the end and it was the decision of the team to do it without him.

"So we have to respect that. It was nice to work with him, but in Formula One sooner or later things change. He did his job, now there's a new future for the team.

"Now we have Simon Roberts, who is a really good guy and I think he will do at least a similar job to Colin.

"Also Mike left the team. Sometimes if you have good people but they don't integrate really good into the team and there are some problems then you have to see how to solve it. The team decided to let both of them go and start anew with completely different guys leading, and it could be good for the team. We will see.

"But right now the atmosphere's good, and that's what is important. We wanted to sort out all the little troubles in the team, and that's what we did. I'm alright with it."

He added that the team's new structure and McLaren deal made him feel much more confident going into 2009.

"Now with McLaren it shows that now a lot more is possible," said Sutil. "We'll see on the circuit, but in general it makes me very confident. I have a really good feeling, absolutely a better feeling than last year.

"You always have to say before the start of the season that you're confident it will be a better season than last season, but sometimes you say it and you don't really believe it. But this year I think we can all believe it, and hopefully it will happen."