Adrian Sutil

**Adrian Sutil** is a German-Uruguayan racing driver who raced in Formula 1.5 for seven seasons: from 2007–2011, then 2013–2014. He drove for the Spyker, Force India and the Sauber Team. He was also the reserve driver for Williams in 2015.

## Personal Life

Born in Starnberg, West Germany, Sutil is the son of professional musicians Monika, a German, and Jorge, a Uruguayan. He has two brothers, named Daniel and Raphael. He weighs 75 kilograms (165 pounds) and is 183 centimeters (6 feet) tall. A talented pianist, Sutil speaks fluent German, English, and Spanish and a little Italian.

### Assult conviction

On the evening following the April 2011 Chinese Grand Prix, Sutil was involved in an incident with Genii Capital CEO and owner of the Lotus F1 team Eric Lux in a nightclub in Shanghai. Sutil struck Lux with a champagne glass, causing a wound in his neck which required 24 stitches. Sutil apologised for the incident, which he described as unintentional. Lux's lawyers filed a criminal complaint for physical assault and grievous bodily harm against Sutil. Force India owner Vijay Mallya refused to take action against Sutil until the case proceeded further, but on 16 December 2011 Force India announced they had opted not to renew Sutil's contract for 2012, and would field reserve driver Nico Hülkenberg alongside di Resta.

On 13 January 2012, German prosecutors announced that Sutil would stand trial over the incident, charged with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm. Sutil was convicted of the charge on 31 January 2012, and received an 18-month suspended prison sentence, along with a €200,000 fine that was to be donated to charities "of the court's choosing." Sutil initially had planned on appealing his conviction but eventually decided not to.

## F1.5 Career

### Spyker (2007)

Sutil joined Spyker in 2007 after being a test and reserve driver for Midland in 2006.

During 2007, Sutil out-qualified and out-raced his team-mate Albers at all Grands Prix before the Dutchman was replaced by Sutil's countryman Markus Winkelhock, test driver for the team up until that time at the European Grand Prix. Sutil out-qualified Winkelhock, although the latter went on to lead the race and restart after a sudden downpour. Winkelhock resumed his third driver role for the following grand prix at Hungary when Japanese driver Sakon Yamamoto took over the second team seat. Sutil out-performed Yamamoto in the race, passing Honda drivers Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button.

In the Hungarian Grand Prix, Sutil was the first Spyker driver in 2007 to beat another running classified finisher, Honda's Rubens Barrichello.

For the Turkish Grand Prix, a B-spec car was expected for the Spyker team, but it failed a rear crash test and Sutil continued to use the older spec car. After fuel pressure problems, he was forced to start the race from the pits and finished five laps behind. At Monza, despite the introduction of the B-spec Spyker F8-VII and due to the nature of the circuit, the Spykers were largely uncompetitive once again.

Sutil scored his first and only points of the season at wet Japanese GP to finish 5th.

Spyker were not competitive in the final two races of the year, neither of which Sutil finished. He has been praised by many for his performances in the 2007 Formula 1.5 Championship. Despite driving the most uncompetitive car of the year, the German rookie impressed by not only dominating all of his teammates in both qualifying and race conditions, but also by challenging other drivers with superior equipment.

### Force India (2008-2011, 2013)

#### 2008 Season

Sutil continued with the team in 2008 under its new identity as Force India, after briefly entertaining the possibility of a drive with McLaren or Williams. The first two races of the season ended with mechanical failures.

While running in a very strong fourth position in Monaco with six laps remaining, he was hit in the rear by fifth placed Kimi Räikkönen who lost control of his car while braking for the harbour chicane. A crash a few laps earlier had resulted in the safety car being deployed, with Sutil losing his considerable lead over the Finnish driver. Sutil's car suffered damage to the rear diffuser, and he was forced to retire.

Sutil picked up only one point in 2008 at Belgium. On 17 October Force India announced they would keep Sutil for the 2009 season.

#### 2009 Season

The 2009 season started strong for Sutil and Force India with Sutil scoring in three of the first four races. In Spain, after running wide at the first corner of the first lap Sutil rejoined the track only to hit the Toyota of Jarno Trulli. The Italian had also run wide and was rejoining the track. This forced both drivers to retire and caused the two Toro Rossos of Sébastien Bourdais and Sébastien Buemi to crash into each other.

In Germany, Sutil took advantage of the unpredictable conditions in qualifying, and secured his maiden pole position, but fell to eight during the race. In Hungary, he was forced to retire after just two laps because a water temperature problem caused the engine to overheat. In Valencia, new aerodynamic upgrades for the VJM02 saw him finish a new career best of fourth.

Two rounds later in Italy Sutil took his second pole position, which he translated to in his maiden win in F1.5 despite accidentally overshooting his mechanics during his final pit stop, but they suffered only minor injuries. In Singapore, Sutil was forced to retire after he collided with Nick Heidfeld of BMW Sauber, moving into his path as he recovered from a spin. After the race, Sutil was reprimanded by race stewards and fined $20,000 for causing an avoidable accident. Sutil took pole position number three in Japan, however dropped to fith by the end of the race. It would be back-to-back pole positions though as he pulled the same trick in Brazil. but retired on lap one following a collision with the Toyota of Jarno Trulli. Out of control on the wet grass outside Turn 5, Trulli hit Sutil, and then slid back onto the track and struck Alonso's Renault, resulting in all three being out of the race. Trulli blamed Sutil for pushing him outside the track at the fifth corner and thus causing the accident, and furiously berated the German at the side of the track in full-view of worldwide TV cameras. This time the stewards took no action against Sutil for the accident, while Trulli was fined $10,000 for his unacceptable behaviour.

Sutil finished the season with 37.5 points in 8th place in the championship.

#### 2010 Season

Sutil's 2010 season started off with a sixth place finish in Australia, a result which could have been better had he not been involved in an incident with Robert Kubica, in the next round he suffered an engine failure which meant he needed to retire from the race. However, in the next round his fortunes changed and saw him take his first podium of the season with a third place. Sutil would take 5 podiums over the 2010 season but no wins would come his way.

#### 2011 Season

Sutil remained with Force India for 2011, and was joined by DTM champion Paul di Resta. In the first three races of the season, Sutil was out-qualified by di Resta. At the first round Sutil finished third after both Saubers were disqualified after the race. Over the next four race's Sutil would pick up minor point positions before taking another podium to finish second at Monaco. He retired in Canada after hitting a wall, which resulted in damage to his car's suspension. In the European GP he finished third and then a fourth place finish followed at the British GP when he was just 0.6 seconds behind third place. Sutil took his first win of the year at the German Grand Prix.

After the summer break Sutil returned to the podium in Belgium with a third place finish before retiring at Monza after his car suffered a hydraulics problem. Another podium finish would come in Singapore though to finish third. He returned to the podium four races later in Abu Dhabi and took the win at the final race in Brazil.

Sutil finished the year third in the standings, this would be his best year in F1.5 scoring 2 wins and 8 podiums. As a result of his assault convictions (see above), Sutil was released at the end of the 2011 season and replaced with Nico Hülkenberg.

#### 2013 Season

On 28 February 2013, Force India announced that Sutil would return to the team to complete their driver lineup alongside Paul di Resta.

Sutil impressed on his comeback in Australia, winning the opening race of the season which meant for the first time in Sutil's career he lead the championship. This win was followed by retirements which knocked him off of the lead. Sutil would win two more races during the year at Monaco and Britain. He took a total of 7 podiums over the season.

### Sauber (2014)

It was announced on 13 December 2013 that Sutil would join Sauber for 2014.

For the first six races of the 2014 season Sutil struggled with a car which lacked pace and he also made a number of mistakes which lost him possible points finishes, scoring only once in that period. His best finish of the season was fith at Hungary.

In November 2014, it was announced he would be dropped and replaced for the 2015 season.