Mar.4 (GMM) Adrian Sutil has predicted another year of struggle for the newly renamed Force India team.



The German racer delivered the sobering message following a period of sustained optimism in the press from team figures, after Vijay Mallya took over the ailing Spyker outfit and promised a bigger budget and better results.



Force India's revised car for 2008 has also been showing furtive promise on the winter test tracks, but 25-year-old Sutil warns supporters to not expect a similar leap into the midfield when the racing begins in Melbourne next weekend.



According to Auto Motor und Sport, he insists that the new car handles better than its 2007 incarnation, "which is very helpful".



"But we still have too much drag on the straights. We are simply too slow," Sutil added.