Adrian Sutil

Just noticed that this German doesn't have his own thread and thought it was about time he did.

Sutil began his F1 career back in 2007, entering F1 in the same year that Lewis Hamilton did.

Sutil has remained with the same team (only under different names) throughout his time in F1 so far. Since his F1 debut Adrian has competed in 84 races collecting 77 points in. Sutil unbelievable has a fastest racing lap to his name aswell!

Sutil to me has always been one of those constant midfield runners who will score a point or two when he's on top of his game. But i'm really struggling to see him step up to another level of racing team as there's a lot of driver out their better than him. Other than Force India where could he actually go to?

 

[Greenlantern101]

Its all looking rather official now not just 'twitter fact'

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/105744

 

[Dario Resta]

Its all looking rather official now not just 'twitter fact'

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/105744

Would it be wrong to raise a glass??

 

[Il_leone]

probably the right choice given the team's predicament

 

[Soumya Banerjee]

I dont know why people think Bianchi is(was) undeserving of the second seat. The guy's only blip in his CV was his GP2 performance...a bit underwhelming,yes,nevertheless he did finish 3rd in both his seasons(something many of today's F1 drivers who graduated from GP2 cant boast about). That aside,its pretty much speckless...he finished 3rd in the highly competitive F3 Euroseries on his debut attempt,creamed the field during his 2nd season there,and put in a brilliant performance in the Formula Renault 3.5 series last year which also featured the likes of Robin Frijns and Antonio Felix Da Costa. If the likes of Max Chilton(who never finished higher than 10th in British F3 and had a pathetic first couple of seasons in GP2) and Luiz Razia(do i need to elaborate why it wasnt his pre-F1 performance that got him the seat???) can get seats in F1,then Jules Bianchi certainly deserves a chance....imho,FI should have chucked the underperforming and overrated Di Resta and replaced him with Bianchi,and then they could have got their darling Sutil the 2nd seat...it doesnt require an Einstein to figure this out,for God's sake....

 

[gethinceri]

Sutil is shit, what a fucking stupid decision. If he gets to every race I will be astounded, whoever has made this decision is a fucking clunge twisting dangleberry, fucking moronic twat. If it's about money just go for the highest bidder, if it's about talent then the understanding of the word talent needs to be questioned. Fucking imbeciles.
I have been drinking.

 

[RasputinLives]

I agree with gethinceri but in a slightly less sweary way.

 

[jez101]

I'm not as sure as some of you that this is a bad decision. In the absence of a clearly better rookie, going with Sutil is surely the safest decision. We know he won't be much faster than PdR, but we know he won't be much slower.

Force India (desperately) need to stay competitive and having a known quantity in both cars is surely the best way to maximise their chances of picking up points on a regular basis throughout the season. They need to have both cars there to pick up the pieces when the top 5 teams have problems.

If you look at who they are fighting with (Sauber - one rookie, Williams - one rookie and Toro Rosso), having two consistently consistent drivers gives them the best chance of finishing 6th and not 9th. I don't know the prize money difference between 6th and 9th but expect it is in 8 figures. Gambling ten million on an unknown quantity is probably stupid in their financial predicament - it's not like Bianchi or anyone else could have tipped them into 5th place if it had come off.

Force India need money - Sutil obviously has access to shed loads of it. For that reason he was ahead of other experienced cast-offs like Alguersuari, Kobayashi, Buemi etc. Maybe Senna and Petrov also had money, but you'd be being argumentative to say that they were clearly a better option than Adrian. Much of a muchness at best and all other things being equal, Sutil's history with the team also counts for something?

 

[F1ang-o]

Got to be better than other money option ..........Narain Karthikeyan

 

[RasputinLives]

jez101 I think what dissapoints most of us is the teams lack of ambition. They talk about pushing forward but have gone back to the same team line up as 2011. They dropped Sutil in the first place to try and bring in someone who can help push them forward so why go back to him? We know what he can do and after a year out I doubt he's any better. Yes Bianchi was a rookie and an unknown quantity but his junior record and the support Ferrari show him at least signals he's worth a gamble. He was hardly off the pace in testing either.

Not only is this a safe boring move showing no ambition its also bringing back a guy who has been convicted of assault and has shown very little remorse for it.

They've lost my support I'm afraid.

 

[siffert_fan]

People keep talking about Ferrari's "support" of Bianchi. If they were so sure of greatness, or at least his potential to become great, wouldn't they have him in Massa's seat?

 

[Marc]

People keep talking about Ferrari's "support" of Bianchi. If they were so sure of greatness, or at least his potential to become great, wouldn't they have him in Massa's seat?

Given until Massa's crash he near won the championship, and at the end of last year he seemed to be getting his ability back up to scratch why would you replace massa with anyone?

 

[jez101]

jez101 I think what dissapoints most of us is the teams lack of ambition.

I don't think they can afford to be ambitious. Financial survival must come first and that is what I think they have gone for.

 

[RasputinLives]

Boring though isn't it?

 

[Soumya Banerjee]

I'm not as sure as some of you that this is a bad decision. In the absence of a clearly better rookie, going with Sutil is surely the safest decision. We know he won't be much faster than PdR, but we know he won't be much slower.

If everyone went along with "known quantities" then there would be no place in F1 for rookies...3 out of the 4 seats of the bottom 2 teams went to rookies. Surely they arent better off than FI???? The argument that Bianchi lacks experience therefore lacks substance....

 

[Soumya Banerjee]

Another question that comes to mind : Will Sutil to able to participate at the Chinese GP this year???

 

[Brogan]

Not just the Chinese GP, many countries forbid visas to convicted criminals.

 

[cider_and_toast]

I see your "convicted criminal" and raise you a "Bernie Ecclestone"

The right word in the right ear etc.....

 

[RasputinLives]

But why would Bernie bother over Adrian Sutil? I doubt Bernie gives a crap who drives for Force India and Sutil not being there is hardly gonna damage the show. F1 got in fine without him last year.

 

[cider_and_toast]

I was just pointing to the fact that anything can be made to happen in Motorsport.

Betrand Gachot was convicted of assult when driving for Jordan in 1991. That didn't stop him coming back to drive for 3 more seasons after he completed his two month jail sentence. I don't see it being a problem for Sutil.

 

[tooncheese]

Wasn't Patrick Head convicted of manslaughter, but he still turns up to every race.