Force India “remains fully committed” to Sutil

2011 F1 season

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Adrian Sutil, Force India, Istanbul, 2011

Force India say they will not change their driver line-up following the allegations made against their driver Adrian Sutil.

A statement issued by the team said: “Force India Formula One Team is aware of the statements made by both its driver, Adrian Sutil, and Mr Eric Lux of Genii Capital, pertaining to events following the Chinese Grand Prix.

“Although the team continues to monitor the situation, it remains fully committed to its driver line-up at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.”

Yesterday Eric Lux announced he plans to bring criminal charges against Sutil following an incident in a bar in Shanghai.

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Image © Force India F1 Team

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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39 comments on “Force India “remains fully committed” to Sutil”

  1. Profile Photo

    Icthyes (@icthyes)
    17th May 2011, 20:43

    Innocent until proven guilty. As long as his performance doesn’t suffer, I see no real reason to ditch him. Then again, there were rumours already…

  2. Profile Photo

    sw6569 (@sw6569)
    17th May 2011, 20:54

    Meanwhile:

    Mercedes remains fully committed to Schumacher

    Red Bull remains fully committed to Webber

    Ferrari remains fully committed to Massa

    Renault remains fully committed to Kubica

    Hamilton remains fully committed to McLaren

    Barrichello remains fully committed to Williams

    Glock remains fully committed to Virgin

    Its going to be a great silly season this year…!

    1. S-D
      17th May 2011, 21:44

      COTD?

    2. Profile Photo

      BasCB (@bascb)
      17th May 2011, 21:53

      Don’t forget Virgin remains fully committed to D’Ambrosio
      And Kolles remains fully committed to Narain and Liuzzi

      1. Dev
        18th May 2011, 2:24

        unless sakon yamamoto finds more money for them.

  3. Profile Photo

    Steph (@)
    17th May 2011, 21:48

    it remains fully committed to its driver line-up

    …

    at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix

    So we’ll see Hulkenberg racing at Monaco ? :P Just kidding!

    1. jake
      17th May 2011, 22:27

      you joke, but I do find it odd that they put in the bit about this weekend. Suggests to me they are ready to drop him immediately if things become clearer and Sutil doesn’t come out smelling of roses.

      1. Profile Photo

        S.J.M (@sjm)
        17th May 2011, 22:36

        esxactly the way i read it.

        1. laird18
          17th May 2011, 22:45

          Agreed. In contrast to Keith’s chosen title for this article I think Force India’s statement doesn’t look great for Sutil. At the least it suggests that they are seriously questioning whether he should keep driving or not.

          If it’s true that the incident was caused by Sutil throwing a glass in the direction of Lux, I feel sorry for Sutil but I think his F1 career might be over.

          1. Profile Photo

            US_Peter (@us_peter)
            18th May 2011, 0:01

            That was my reading as well. James Allen made a similar comment on Twitter. It certainly doesn’t give the impression that they’re fully committed to Sutil in the long term, and that they’ll drop him like a hot potato at the first chance they get.

          2. Mike
            18th May 2011, 3:00

            I think if anything Force India should be more committed to Sutil, yes he’s done bad, but it would be a bad show by the team to turn him belly up just because he isn’t convenient to them anymore.

            Whether they like it or not, Sutil has stuck with them. They should stick by him.

      2. Profile Photo

        BasCB (@bascb)
        18th May 2011, 6:12

        Well, they won’t know weather Lux does press charges and what that will mean for Sutil, do they?

        1. Adrian J
          18th May 2011, 9:53

          I think this is key. At the moment no charges have actually been reported as having been filed, so it would literally be them dropping him on the basis of a threat from a rival team boss.

          I can’t help but wonder where the FiA “good character” policy would come into play if charges are actually filed again Sutil. Could he face having his superlicense suspended?

          I know in other professions someone charged with GBH could be suspended until they were cleared, why should a sport star be any different.

          1. Profile Photo

            SparkyJ23 (@sparkyj23)
            18th May 2011, 10:49

            Lux doesn’t file charges – that’s the police i thought, especially in a case of ABH or affray. Either way Force India can’t do anything until the police decide to charge Sutil – then they are free to suspend him or whatever. Doing anything now would leave them open to being sued by Sutil I’d have thought.

    2. Profile Photo

      Fixy (@)
      18th May 2011, 15:18

      He’s talking for now as Sutil might have a trial, for example, on the Monaco GP weekend.

    3. Andy C
      19th May 2011, 13:11

      Exactly, “at the spanish grand prix” speaks volumes.

      Hardly a full backing.

  4. dj
    17th May 2011, 21:57

    Ok here’s what happen Eric said something to Jessica that upset her,Adrian said something to Eric. Eric said something to Adrian…Adrian throws glass at wall near Eric …this is off of the club video cam. about a minute later Eric is bleeding an moving to the right

    1. laird18
      17th May 2011, 22:30

      dj, where did you hear/see that? Sounds plausible, and far less serious than the story that he “stabbed” him with a broken glass.

      1. Profile Photo

        AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
        17th May 2011, 23:15

        Nowhere near as exciting however.

  5. James
    17th May 2011, 23:14

    Remember this team was Jordan once upon-a-time. As James Allen points out, the last time anything like this happened was at a team called Jordan, where Bertrand Gachot was incarcirated following using CS gas on a London taxi driver. Eddie Jordan then apparantly foolishly put some driver named Michael Schumacher into one of his cars. How about that.

    Could history repeat? Probably not, but an interesting paralell

    1. LuvinF1
      17th May 2011, 23:29

      … and how many races did Michael drive for Eddie?

      1. Profile Photo

        BasCB (@bascb)
        18th May 2011, 6:13

        LOL, so if they get Hulk in the car he will be driving for someone else come Monaco?

      2. James
        18th May 2011, 9:56

        Not many, but look how many he’s driving since?

  6. Hallard
    17th May 2011, 23:23

    Of course Force India would say that they are “fully committed” to Sutil…

    …Vijay Mallya doesnt want to risk getting glassed himself :)

    1. Alfie
      18th May 2011, 0:13

      Hahahaha! That is MY Comment of the day.

  7. Profile Photo

    BROOKSY007 (@brooksy007)
    18th May 2011, 0:12

    I’d like to see how bad his neck is!

    He’s probably done worse shaving!

    Honestly, if he said bad stuff, he deserves it! Sounds like another rich guy thinking his money makes him special or untouchable!!

    1. Bäremans
      18th May 2011, 12:45

      Actually, you can turn that around too: Sutil shouldn’t think he’s so special, that he has the right to physically harm anyone who sais something that ****** him off.

  8. BBT
    18th May 2011, 8:38

    Suspension is sometimes used in such cases the final outcome but they’ve not opted for that. Now it looks like he’ll be fine unless found guilty.

  9. BBT
    18th May 2011, 8:39

    *such cases until the final outcome*

  10. shomir
    18th May 2011, 9:12

    I find Sutil’s relationship with FI sort of like Lewis Hamilton’s with Macca, they just won’t leave their teams because they are devoted to their teams and so are their teams to them.

    Hope Sutil has a great year ahead and get more points ! :)

    1. Profile Photo

      RIISE (@riise)
      18th May 2011, 10:47

      Sutil is at Force India because nothing better has come along for him.

      Whereas in Lewis’s case he could get in any team.

    2. Andy C
      19th May 2011, 13:16

      I thought from the moment Hulk signed as reserve, that Sutil wouldnt last the year.

      I fear that the reputational risk for Force India (although that doesnt stop them from “allegedly” being very bad payers of invoices and bills” may prove too much.

      Just as with any other individual, if they have acted and harmed someone (however much hindsight is applied after the fact), they have to face consequences. If he’s not guilty he wont be convicted, and if he is, I fear its the end of his Force India career.

      You’d imagine some form of conviction would be in the realms of any gross misconduct type clauses that are standard in most peoples contracts.

  11. GQsm
    18th May 2011, 11:22

    Any fluent german speakers able to translate this on Bild
    http://www.bild.de/sport/motorsport/adrian-sutil/blutige-disco-nacht-des-formel-1-stars-17945068.bild.html

    1. GQsm
      18th May 2011, 11:23

      BTW, I already google translated it but some words and context is wrong.

    2. Bäremans
      18th May 2011, 12:11

      In short, this is what Bild reports: Hamilton and Sutil were at a table with a bunch of Renault people. Hamilton then felt “threathened” by a bunch of fans and asked his bodyguard to clear some space. Lux apparently refused to be displaced. (that would only make sense if the bodyguards tried to push back the Renault people too, which I think would be strange)
      In the fuzz, Sutil got a drink spilled over his pants, after which a discussion started. Lux interfered in that. A bit later, Sutil wounded Lux with his champagne glass.
      Bild believes that Sutil’s only intention was to throw his drink in Lux’ face, but he ended up braking the glas in Lux’ face.

      IF (if) all this really started with Hamilton telling his bodyguards to clear him some space, he’s lost my respect for him as a human.
      Who does he think he is that he can push people back in a public space, simply because he wants some privacy? If he really felt threathened, he should have left, even only temporarily.

      When these “stars” start behaving like they’re worth more than others, they lose my respect entirely. They have a certain talent which – helped by a serious amount of luck and good fortune – made them rich and famous. But that’s it. Just like anyone else, they started life crapping in diapers too.

      1. MinusTwo
        18th May 2011, 16:07

        Thanks for the translation, but your perspective on famous people wanting space is totally misplaced. Famous people get mobbed constantly by throngs of people trying to get near them, and for their own security they need to have a buffer between them and the crowds.

        If you were rich and famous, sitting in a bar, and there was a throng of people trying to get to you, isnt it possible that you might ask your bouncers to back everyone up a bit? And honestly, why is that the worst thing in the world? Sure, it’s something that the average person wouldnt do, but thats because the average person isnt pursued by mobs of people constantly.

      2. Zahir
        18th May 2011, 17:25

        Why does something tell me if this was someone other than Hamilton then we wouldn’t be having this conversation?

        A guy was supposedly left with stiches, I really dont think Hamilton asking his guards to make some room is the worst thing that happened that night.

  12. Baremans
    18th May 2011, 17:33

    Am not saying that. Just an additional note that IF (if) this thing was caused by some celeb creating some more personal space in a crowded bar, I’d be disgusted.

    But forget about it, it’s not related to the topic any way.

  13. MEF
    18th May 2011, 18:54

    I don’t think Hamilton’s role in this is being discussed enough.

    Sutil’s clearly his wing-man. I would imagine Jumbo started the whole sordid affair and theeft Sutil to commit the actual GBH.

    At a guess.

Comments are closed.