Friday 28 March at 09:06 : The boss of the Force India team has played down rumours that Adrian Sutil's waning form will put him out of the race seat at the end of 2008.

Sutil, the 25-year-old German, was a standout rookie of last season, when pitted against Spyker teammates Christijan Albers and Sakon Yamamoto.

But alongside Roman veteran and grand prix winner Giancarlo Fisichella, Sutil has this year been roundly outpaced at the two initial rounds of 2008.

Some observers are already comparing Sutil's disappointing pace with Albers' form early last year, and the Dutchman's subsequent departure from the Silverstone based team.

"That's not the case at all," team chief Colin Kolles is quoted as saying by the Swiss publication Motorsport Aktuell.

Sutil's season so far has also not been helped by two technical failures that gave him early baths from both the Australian and Malaysian grands prix.

"Adrian needs to find and retrieve the performance that we all know very well that he has," Kolles continued.

Kolles says Fisichella is the differentiating factor this year for Sutil.

"When we look at the data, we can see exactly the progress we have made, and this clearly shows that Fisichella has been a giant step for us," he explained.