Adrian Sutil insists he is satisfied with how he has performed so far in 2008.

The German was highly lauded for his performance as a rookie last year, but his tenure alongside Giancarlo Fisichella this season began not so shiningly.

At the time, it was suggested that Force India chiefs considered demoting Sutil, who is 25, and replacing him with test driver Tonio Liuzzi.

In interview with Formule 1 Race Report, Sutil begs to differ: "The team has always been behind me.

"When it was obvious that I was having some problems, they gave me the time to work it out.

"There was a lot written about it in the press, but I never thought I was going to get fired," he told the Dutch magazine.

Sutil blames the early performance trough this year on a lack of testing in the winter months.

But even though the highly experienced Fisichella was clearly ahead at the beginning of the season, Sutil has redressed the balance by bringing his qualifying deficit back to 6:5.

"That's not too bad, is it?" Sutil says. "There's not so much between us in terms of driving the car at the limit. If there is three tenths between us, that's a different story. But sometimes you could just flip a coin (to separate us)."

He said racing alongside the Roman three-time race winner is a different matter entirely to last year, when Sutil easily dispensed with his teammates Christijan Albers and Sakon Yamamoto.

"I have to be driving really well, otherwise I am behind him. Last season was different," Sutil recalls.

"(In 2007) I knew almost certainly before every session, 'My teammate will be half a second slower'. I think I'm at my very best now.

"Of course I was driving as quickly as possible last year, but it is a different thing."

He said he is waiting for another opportunity, like he had in Monaco, to prove he is a top driver deserving of a winning ride.

"My main focus has to be to beat my teammate. But if I am in front of Giancarlo, it doesn't mean I go immediately to Ferrari.

"This is the most difficult stage of my career, to get into a better team. Look at Giancarlo -- he has been years in F1 and only two or three of them with a really top car. Sometimes you need a bit of luck as well."

Sutil is likely to stay with Force India in 2009.

Source: GMM