Zoom Fisichella and Sutil fairly evenly matched

Giancarlo Fisichella admits he needs a good season in 2009 to safeguard his place on next year's Formula One grid.

The Roman on Friday officially kicked off his fourteenth consecutive F1 campaign, meaning that after Rubens Barrichello, he is the most experienced active driver in the sport. But Fisichella, now 36, lost his top Renault seat at the end of 2007, and was unable to score a single point when he drove for Force India last year.

In 2009 he is back in action with the independent Silverstone based squad, admitting that the pressure will be on him to have better results.

"It is quite important for me to have a good season, score points and keep the motivation high to ensure I keep running in the future," he told the Indian news portal Rediff.

The early signs were positive in Australia on Friday, Force India managing to stay away from the tail of the pace, despite Adrian Sutil beating Fisichella to the best times with the VJM02.

"I'm not 100 percent comfortable just yet," he said in Melbourne on Friday evening. "We're in better shape than last year for sure though."

Source: GMM
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