Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella has revealed that he will be part of the Force India Formula 1 team in 2009.

The Formula 1 veteran is adamant that his place in Dr. Vijay Mallya's team is secure, despite the rumour mill going into overdrive this weekend. It has been reported that Force India's new deal with McLaren-Mercedes has an alleged clause that will require the Silverstone-based team to field one of the mant McLaren protégés.

Although the team owners have stated on many occasions that both Fisichella and teammate Adrian Sutil would be retained for the 2009 campaign, the new deal may lead to new developments, with Mallya taking advice from his new partners in a bid to get Force India out of the F1 cellar.

Mallya has already allowed McLaren reserve Pedro de la Rosa to test out one of the team's VJM01s in Spain last week, and could be persuaded to bring in the Spanish driver or Mercedes' DTM driver Paul di Resta as one of his drivers next year.

‘Fisico', as Fisichella is affectionately known to his fans, has come out to declare that in the event of the team replacing a driver, he will be the one retained.

"The only thing I know is that, in September, we were told that Pedro could test and we could not say before it was made official, so I was not at all surprised," Fisichella said. "As for the rest - I am not really interested in F1 gossip!"

"I originally signed a two-year contract which was reviewed in September to incorporate the McLaren deal. In a few words, the team offered me a better car and a different package. I accepted their proposal and both sides signed the new document between Singapore and China. This is why Dr Mallya made the announcement in Shanghai," added the Italian. "The [McLaren] partnership is our biggest step towards finding competitiveness in the future. Vijay is building on a solid platform and going forward, so that Adrian and I are given a real chance to perform. The line-up has been announced in China in October by Vijay, and I trust people who trust me."

Fisichella, a ten-year Formula 1 veteran, has been a positive influence on the Force India team in terms of his experience and professionalism. The Italian is unlikely to be paired with de la Rosa, but if di Resta is brought in to replace Sutil, ‘Fisi' would be there to provide a yardstick; a proven commodity that the new guy could be measured to.

Force India was the only team not to score in 2008, despite coming close on a couple of occasions, but Fisichella claims he is not dismayed by the latest step in his F1 career.

"I knew it was going to be tough and no promises were made to me at the beginning," continued Fisichella. "The plan was to build up the future of the team and, genuinely, I had no big expectations, so I can say I am not disappointed, especially with my own performance."

"We did not have a competitive car, that is all. Twice we were in the points - Adrian in Monaco and I was eighth in Brazil, but twice we did not score and that is not because of driver errors," concluded the veteran. "A competitive package [is] all I want and [is] what I have been promised. And that is a very good reason to drive for the team in 2009."