Jarno Trulli insists his seat at Caterham is "safe", saying his team bosses haven't indicated that his place is in jeopardy.
Although the veteran Italian has a contract with the Norfolk-based squad for the 2012 campaign, media speculation linking former Renault driver Vitaly Petrov and current Caterham reserve Giedo van der Garde to his seat refuses to go away.
However, the 37-year-old Trulli is confident he will make it 15 seasons in F1 this year, but he also concedes that the team might be forced to look at pay drivers due to the financial situation.
"We are safe, yes," he told Autosport.
He added: "I do understand the position of some teams and that unfortunately, economically we are going through a very tough time worldwide and there are some teams that are running into trouble.
"I don't know the real situation of the teams but I do know that they have to look for sponsors and paying drivers, so at the moment all I can say is I am contracted with the team and I will be testing.
"If something different happens I hope that someone from the team comes and talks to me earlier, but so far we never had a talk about it through the winter."
