Adrian Sutil

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Adrian Sutil
222
Nationality Flag of Germany German
Car # 20
Current team Force India
Formula One World Championship career
Races 24
Championships 0
Wins 0
Podium finishes 0
Pole positions 0
Career points 1
Fastest laps 0
First race 2007 Australian Grand Prix
Latest race 2008 Canadian Grand Prix
2007 position 19th (1 point)

Adrian Sutil (pronounced: ['adɾjan su'til]; born January 11, 1983 in Starnberg) is a German Formula One racing driver.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Sutil is the son of professional musicians Monika, a German, and Jorge, an Uruguayan.[1] A talented pianist,[2] Sutil started karting at 14 before moving up to Swiss Formula Ford 1800 in 2002. He won all ten rounds of the season from pole and added five wins in the Formula Masters Austria championship.[1] Sutil speaks fluent German, English, Spanish and a little Italian.

[edit] Formula BMW & Formula Three

When Sutil moved up to the Formula BMW ADAC championship in 2003 he finished in sixth place in the series, but with no wins. The following season he stepped up to the Formula 3 Euroseries with Colin Kolles' team. Although he scored only twice, the connection he made with Kolles would prove useful in the future. He moved to the ASM team at the final round of the year.[1]

Sutil stayed with ASM for 2005 and was joined by British driver Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton won more races than Sutil, but the German was runner-up to Hamilton and the Briton's only serious competitor in the championship and at the prestigious Marlboro Masters of Formula Three at Zandvoort.[1]

Sutil missed the last two rounds of the 2005 Euroseries after joining A1 Team Germany for the inaugural A1 Grand Prix series. He raced for them at three events in Portugal, Australia and Dubai, his best result being two twelfth places.[1]

He spent 2006 racing in Japan and won the All-Japan Formula Three Championship. He showed a very strong performance all season. He also finished third in the Macau Formula Three Grand Prix and made a one-off appearance in Japanese Super GT.[1]

[edit] Formula One

Sutil testing for Midland F1 Racing in February 2006.
Sutil testing for Midland F1 Racing in February 2006.

That year also saw Sutil enter Formula One. In January, he was confirmed as a one of the three test drivers for the new MF1 Racing team, along with Markus Winkelhock and Giorgio Mondini. This came thanks to his connections with Colin Kolles, who was now running the team.

Sutil appeared for the team as the third driver at the European, French and Japanese Grands Prix. By the time of his third appearance the outfit had been bought by Spyker Cars. At the end of the year he was promoted to second driver for the 2007 season, having been signed on a multi-year contract by the team.[3] In an interview with the Official Formula One website, Sutil's first 2007 teammate, Christijan Albers, commented that "Adrian is a good driver and he will be quick this year, but as a driver you should always be pushing to the limits without thinking what the guy in the car next to you is doing. But Adrian will be a good team-mate and it looks as though he’s going to be a big talent [for the future]".[4]

Sutil driving a Spyker F8-VII at the 2007 French Grand Prix.
Sutil driving a Spyker F8-VII at the 2007 French Grand Prix.

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 re-start 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. [5]

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 and Sutil finished 19th, again only in front of his team-mate.

Sutil driving for Spyker at the 2007 Belgian Grand Prix.
Sutil driving for Spyker at the 2007 Belgian Grand Prix.

At the Belgian Grand Prix, the strengths of the B-spec car were fully evident with both Sutil and Yamamoto setting competitive times through the three practice sessions culminating in Sutil qualifying only half a second behind 16th placed man Vitantonio Liuzzi. During the race, Sutil passed the Toyota of Jarno Trulli, Hondas of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button as well as the Red Bull's David Coulthard, Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi and Williams driver Alexander Wurz. He ran as high as 12th before finishing 14th. He was highly praised for his efforts by both team and media.[6]

Two weeks later in the rain at Fuji Speedway, Japan, it seemed Sutil had narrowly missed an opportunity to score Spyker's first ever point, briefly holding 8th position on the penultimate lap of the high-attrition race after Nick Heidfeld retired his BMW, but was almost immediately passed by fellow backmarker Vitantonio Liuzzi in the Toro Rosso and finished 9th, still a career-best. After the race it was found that Liuzzi had overtaken Sutil under yellow flags, and the 25-second penalty for the Italian promoted Sutil to the final points position. Toro Rosso appealed the decision, but the penalty was upheld.[7]

Sutil driving Spyker F8-VII B at the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix, Spyker's last race
Sutil driving Spyker F8-VII B at the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix, Spyker's last race

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 One Championship. Despite driving the most uncompetitive car of the year, the German rookie has impressed by not only dominating all of his teammates in both qualifying and race conditions, but also by challenging other drivers with superior equipment.

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

While running in a very strong 4th position in the 2008 Monaco Grand Prix with 6 laps remaining, he was hit in the rear by 5th 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.[8] Mike Gascoyne called for Kimi Räikkönen to be punished over the incident. No punishment, however, was given.[9] However, Sutil had overtaken three cars under yellow flags and according to steward Paul Gutjahr, should he have reached the chequered flag, he would have been given a 25-second penalty which would have dropped him out of the point-scoring positions.[10]

[edit] Racing record

Sutil testing for Force India in January 2008.
Sutil testing for Force India in January 2008.
Season Series Team Name Races Poles Wins Points Final Placing
2002 Swiss Formula Ford 1800 SSPT Racing 12 12 12 1st
2003 German Formula BMW HBR Motorsport 20 2 0 86 6th
2004 Formula 3 Euroseries Team Kolles
ASM Formule 3		 20 2 0 9 17th
2005 Formula 3 Euroseries ASM Formule 3 18 1 2 94 2nd
2006 All-Japan Formula 3 TOM'S 18 3 5 212 1st
2006 Super GT Toyota Team TOM'S 1 0 0 6 26th
2007 Formula One Spyker F1 17 0 0 1 19th
2008 Formula One Force India 7 0 0 0 22nd*

* Season in progress

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 WDC Points
2006 Midland F1 Racing Midland M16 Toyota RVX-06 2.4 V8 BHR
 MAL
 AUS
 SMR
 EUR
TD		 ESP
 MON
 GBR
 CAN
 USA
 FRA
TD		 GER
 HUN
 TUR
 ITA
 - -
Spyker MF1 Team CHN
 JPN
TD		 BRA
2007 Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team Spyker F8-VII Ferrari 056H 2.4 V8 AUS
17		 MAL
Ret		 BHR
15		 ESP
13		 MON
Ret		 CAN
Ret		 USA
14		 FRA
17		 GBR
Ret		 EUR
Ret		 HUN
17		 TUR
21		 19th 1
Spyker F8-VIIB ITA
19		 BEL
14		 JPN
8		 CHN
Ret		 BRA
Ret
2008 Force India Formula One Team Force India VJM01 Ferrari 056 2.4 V8 AUS
Ret		 MAL
Ret		 BHR
19		 ESP
Ret		 TUR
16		 MON
Ret		 CAN
Ret		 FRA
 GBR
 GER
 HUN
 EUR
 BEL
 ITA
 SIN
 CHN
 JPN
 BRA
 22nd* 0*

* Season in progress

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Who's Who: Adrian Sutil. F1Fanatic.co.uk (2007). Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  2. ^ "Adrian Sutil: Germany's Unsung Inspiration", emagazine.credit-suisse.com, 2006-11-01. Retrieved on 2007-07-22. 
  3. ^ "Sutil joins Albers at Spyker", Grandprix.com, 2006-12-21. Retrieved on 2006-12-21. 
  4. ^ "Q&A with Spyker’s Albers and Sutil", Official Formula One website, 2007-02-05. Retrieved on 2007-03-06. 
  5. ^ Spyker beats Honda thanks to Sutil. F1Fanatic.co.uk (2007-08-05). Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
  6. ^ Sutil dazzles for Spyker in Belgium. Formula1.com (2007-09-16).
  7. ^ "Spyker score maiden point after Liuzzi penalty", Official Formula One website, 2007-09-30. Retrieved on 2007-09-30. 
  8. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7419448.stm 'Sad' Sutil rues Raikkonen crash]
  9. ^ Force India call for Raikkonen punishment. planetf1.com (2008). Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  10. ^ Sutil would not have scored points at Monaco. Eurosport. Retrieved on 2008-06-02.

[edit] External links

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Sporting positions
Preceded by
Joao Paulo De Oliveira		 All-Japan Formula Three Champion
2006		 Succeeded by
Kazuya Oshima
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Constructors and drivers competing in the 2008 Formula One championship
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