Sutil: Year out of Formula 1 has made me mentally stronger
10 March, 2013
Adrian Sutil back in the Force India cockpit after a year on the sidelines
A year out of Formula 1 has increased Adrian Sutil’s desire to be a world champion and made him mentally stronger, the Force India driver said ahead of his return to the grid in Melbourne for the 2013 season opener.
Sutil sealed his Formula One comeback last week with the Silverstone-based team giving the German racer a second chance as team mate to Britain’s Paul Di Resta this season.
Last year, the 30-year-old’s hopes of getting back into the sport looked remote after he was given an 18-month suspended jail sentence and fined 200,000 euros ($262,200) for grievous bodily harm following a Shanghai nightclub brawl in 2011.
Sutil, whose best result was fourth place in the 2009 Italian Grand Prix, said he was relieved to finally have a racing seat but at the same time the break had helped him to reflect on his career.
Adrian Sutil with Bradley Joyce during Barcelona testing
“I was watching it on TV. I tried to take a step back from the sport,” he told a small group of reporters. “By the middle of the season I felt so much stronger and found my, let’s say, new goal in life… to be a world champion. I am not in Formula One to just race. I would rather stay at home. The car is very important but you have to set your mind. I am here to race against the world’s best and if anyone is there not to win then it is not the right place for him.”
The break also allowed him to lead a normal life and do things he would not normally have found time for.
“I had time to think about my career. We will see if I am a better driver but mentally, I would say yes,” he said. “I have seen a life without Formula One and a life with it. In this professional sport you never actually have the time to learn. I wouldn’t have chosen a year off but it was probably for the good. Once I was back in the car, the engineers were very impressed.”
Adrian Sutil Force India VJM06
Sutil was dropped by the team in 2011 following the incident in which Eric Lux, then chief executive of Renault F1 (now Lotus) owners Genii Capital, needed stitches for a neck wound caused by a champagne glass.
The driver said he had no inhibitions about going back to China in April and was confident that he would be allowed to race anywhere in the world.
“Everything happens for a reason I would say. You can’t change it, it just happens in life,” Sutil said. “You have to just learn from it, you have to understand that downside is another side. It just makes you stronger. I have to go there. It’s not that I don’t like the country because something bad happened there. It could have happened anywhere else. I think it was a lesson and in a way I have learnt a lot of things from that. So it is not only a bad thing.”
Force India slipped to seventh last season in the constructors’ championship but Di Resta hoped that with Sutil’s return the duo could help the team to reach sixth spot, where they finished in 2011.
“Adrian’s got a lot of experience in Formula One and it’s nice to have him back,” he said. “But essentially it is a competition on the track and I want to come out on top of him in the championship. We will surely be pushing each other which is good for the team.”
Related posts:
- Sutil: I’m delighted to be back in F1 with a team I know so well
- Sutil: It’s obvious that I’m still quick and that’s very important
- Sutil back in F1 cockpit after a year on the sidelines
- Di Resta: We’ve got to start stronger than we did last year
- Sutil deserves to be in F1 says Hulkenberg
@wOLVERINE
The only person Hamilton feared testifying against was his friend NOT Lux! Hamilton would have no problem defending his friend but what was there to defend? a psychotic action? is that how you defend gals where you come from? by killing the attacker in a night club? do you think Lux was physically assaulting the gal infront of everyone in a nightclub? Is Eric Lux so strong that he could not be shoved? Sutil is plain stupid. he should understand why Hamilton did not defend him. especially not on Whitmarsh’s watch. the only problem with Hamilton is if he incited Sutil and then baulked afterwards.. was that the case?
@Butterfly:
I wish!! at least i would be making some money..
I am just trying to have an open mind. Does Sutil deserve this seat?I don’t know! Everyone’s entitled to have an opinion about it.But I don’t support those who say he shouldn’t be in the sport just because of that incident.
@Lol:
One needs guts to testify against a team boss even if the boss was on the wrong side of the law.Sure Hamilton isn’t hired by Lotus but i don’t think drivers would like to go against any team bosses.Would you have testified against your boss or your potential employer!!
@Wolverine
No, Hamilton’s behaviour says Sutil IS the villain.
If sutil was innocent, why would Hamilton, one of his best friends, refuse to defend him? Furthermore, why would Sutil say publically that they’re no longer friends over the incident? Because he did nothing wrong?
@wolverine:
So, you’re a PR person hired by Force India, huh?
@JPSmoove & F1 fan:
Comment on twitter after the girl gets raped? I know this is going too extreme,but who knows that might well have been the case.And Hamilton’s behavior certainly suggests Sutil wasn’t the villain.People shouldn’t get judgmental,not without knowing the entire facts of the case..
@woverine…I agree with F1fan. Why not send a twitter message. I would seem a much more pragmatic way to deal with a guy who is acting like Lux. In any case, guys with this type of prestige and who have soooo much to lose, should hang out with a better class of people. We are the company we keep, etc, etc, etc..I hope he make the best of his second chance at life and F1. Regards,
@wolverine:
Actually, we know exactly what happened in that club. Sutil tried to jam a champagne glass in Eric Lux’s neck, and it wasn’t in self-defence.
After a trial, he was given a suspended 18-month prison sentence, and he’s now back in F1 because Force India has serious financial problems.
Oh, and he’s mentally stronger and ready to win the WDC.
@wolverine
There is much better ways to protect a girls dignity than going for another mans Jugular with a broken glass
I am a bit amused by the constant Sutil ranting on almost all the F1 blogs for his glassing incident.How can you (sutil bashers) know for sure what happened at the club that night? Surely none of you were present at the club.The one who was(read: Lewis Hamilton) chickened out and refused to testify for or against Sutil in court.I totally support Sutil’s actions,if he did it to save a girls dignity. F1 bosses are very powerful people who think they can get away with anything.Do you think a low profile F1 driver like Sutil will confront an F1 team boss for no reason??And what’s with Lewis trying to extend an olive branch to Sutil now?Why is he giving his well wishes to a criminal?Think about it.Obviously Sutil is not the villain in Hamilton’s version of the incident.
@JuniorJohnson
I’m pretty sure those are the cooling fans for the brakes, they’re not permanently attached though, the mechanics put it there right after a hard pounding round the track cuz the brakes get super hot and could catch fire if not cooled…
As for Sutil, let’s just see how he performs….
Even if Sutil was totally drunk, what’s a guy without self-control doing in this sport?
From what I can remember reading at that time:
Apparently, Sutil and Hamilton were in the same club as Eric Lux and that guy was checking out some girl. Sutil got pissed about it and confronted him. Lux told him to calm down, Sutil said something like “Don’t you know who we are? We are F1 drivers”. Lux said he’s an F1 team owner. Sutil then took a champagne glass and hit Lux.
Immediately after that, Hamilton ran away, and Lux ran to the elevator to, presumably, go downstairs and exit the club. He said he was bleeding like mad and was sure he was going to die.
I don’t know what the hell he was thinking, but now he’s gonna win the WDC, for sure.
I find it funny he had the nerve to say everybody deserves a second chance. I guess running around for five years was only the first chance.
Apparently Eric Lux is a pr***! I dont reckon any sane person would’ve gone to cut him for nothing esp with so much at stake!
@JPSmoove:
To be honest, I too am a bit baffled about that. Remember how much fuss was made about hoongate – the Hamilton incident in Australia a couple of years ago?
So it’s okay to stab people in the neck but not to do burnouts with a road car.
And now he’s “mentally stronger” and wants to be a champion.
Could get into this but lets leave it be for now..Saw a pic of Sutil’s missus at the track. Jeezus she makes Nicole Scherzinger look like a wagon she does :/
Well, after you stab someone in the neck and then manage to stay out of jail (in China no less!)…can you imagine the possibility of being held in a Chinese prison! Good grief! After this, what else can scare you! BTW, doesn’t F1 have some type of agreement where drivers cannot bring the sport into ill repute? Stabbing a team owner, in a night club seems to apply. Hmmmmm….
JuniorJohnson 10 March, 2013 at 1:14 pm
sorry i forgot to say you can see it in the first picture wich is the picture at the top.do you see what I mean there is a stick coming from the wheel and it connects with the wing at the front in a big orunge lump
They are for cooling the brake disks and pads so they do not catch fire you see them often in practice and quali.
I didn’t write that… Getting real tired of idiots posting under different usernames…
You guys do realise Di Resta beat Sutil, right?
@ Juniorjohnson They are brake coolers or leaf blowers.
and in defence to Paul:
he was not driving bad,
but his mouth was doing so…
Honestly, what has Di Resta shown besides being an egomaniac?
He was both beaten by Nico and Adrian, so what’s the fuzz??
ok, in defence to Adrian: think he has accomplished more than DIR in the preseason and the latter one should be either be replaced by Kamui or Heikki.
You know, it’s good to have a little less big mouth…
what has made you strong, dear Adrian Sutil, is the money your team saved by appointing you as their main driver,
while there have been others without the money, who may well have more speed and talent than yourself, Adrian…
sorry i forgot to say you can see it in the first picture wich is the picture at the top.do you see what I mean there is a stick coming from the wheel and it connects with the wing at the front in a big orunge lump
Why does the force india have those big wishing bones?you know those sticks coming from the car and joining onto the wing front with those too big orange lumps were the wing is i have never seen something like this on a formula one car before.well you can see in the second picture that Adrian Sutril is asking the guy who builds the force india cars.I do know his name I just cant remember it right now.anyway hes asking him why its there you can see hes showing him with his fingers