Adrian Sutil's manager has played down speculation the German driver's place on the 2009 formula one grid may not be safe.

With recent confirmation of Force India's tie-up with McLaren-Mercedes, it was suggested that the British team may have some influence over the final configuration of race drivers.

It led to speculation that the McLaren-Mercedes backed DTM racer Paul di Resta, or primary F1 test driver Pedro de la Rosa, could be called up to Force India, to the detriment of either 25-year-old Sutil or his 2008 teammate Giancarlo Fisichella.

"There is no reason for us to believe that Adrian's place is anything other than safe," his manager Manfred Zimmermann told motorsport-total.com.

Zimmermann explained that not only is Sutil's contract valid also for 2009, but that team boss Vijay Mallya has reiterated the situation several times by a factor of "100 per cent".

Not only that, but Sutil visited Force India's Silverstone factory last Friday to have his Seat fitted for the 2009 car.

It also emerges that he will test on two out of the three days for the team in Barcelona this week.

Source: GMM