Formula One News

Formula One News » Sutil still weighing up options for 2011 Posted on 31/10/2010

Force India F1 team’s Adrian Sutil has said no decision has yet been made on who will drive for in 2011, although he has revealed that rumours linking him to Mercedes are wide of the mark.

Sutil, who is currently enjoying his best season to date, is thought to be in talks with a number of teams, including in addition to his current employers, Williams, Renault and Mercedes.

However the 27-year-old has now come out and rubbished talk he will replace Michael Schumacher, who has generally struggled since opting to return after ‘retiring’ at the end of 2006.

“No, there is no truth in that,” Sutil told The Daily Mail when asked about the Mercedes rumours. “Michael is going to stay there for another year at least, and I think he has a three-year contract, so that is how it is.

“Of course it would be great to drive for Mercedes in the future, but I think now is just too early, and they are just rumours.

“I’m not sure at the moment [which team I will be with next year], but it should happen pretty soon. I just want to make sure to do the right thing, but I can’t say where I am going to be. It is too early for that. I was planning to make a decision four weeks ago, but it is difficult. Everyone is waiting, so I will try to make it as quickly as possible.”

As for his thoughts on Schumacher’s year, Sutil added that in his view he hasn’t actually done that bad: “People expect him to be there where he ended three years ago, but that’s not how F1 is,” Sutil added. “It has changed and it is never easy to come back after three years.

“It’s not a winning car at the moment [either]. You can make a reference to his team-mate. [But] he’s close and is getting better, so I suppose you could say it’s probably not been a bad comeback.”

Sutil’s focus now shifts to the Brazilian Grand Prix next weekend and after a difficult time in Korea, he will be keen to get back in the points and add to his 47-point haul, especially as he has now had two retirements on the trot. It won’t be easy though, as following his exploits in Yeongam, he picked up a five-place grid penalty.

“The Brazilian Grand Prix is always a really special event on the calendar for me,” he continued in the Force India F1 team’s official preview. “I love going to South America as I have some heritage there on my father’s side and the atmosphere at the track is really something special. The fans are so passionate that you can hear the cheers even when you’re in the car!

“The track itself is very enjoyable and moves up and down over the lap to give a real rollercoaster ride, particularly when you go down into the first corner – the car is almost sideways into the bend. It’s tough for sure as the ambient temperatures can be high and it’s sometimes very humid and when it rains, it rains hard as we saw in 2008. But the toughest is the bumps: when you’re going round the track during the race you really feel each one!

“You need a car that’s quick on the straights but also stable through the twisty section at the lower part of the track so getting a good balance is key. Fortunately this year we’ve got a car that performs well on this type of track as we saw in Spa so I am very optimistic we can do a good job and get some more points.

“Last year I was third on the grid but we know going into the event that it won’t be possible this season as we have the penalty from the Korean GP. I didn’t have a great race in Korea and now to have a penalty for the next race makes it even more disappointing.

“We never give up though and as we showed in the last race we have a very strong race pace and quite often a good strategy so we can make up positions – Tonio [Liuzzi - my team-mate] moved up eleven positions in Korea.

“I’m very motivated to get over the penalty and get back ninth position in the drivers’ championship and of course to do everything I can to help the team get to sixth in the constructors,” he summed-up.

http://www.f1.co.uk/force-india/

http://www.f1.co.uk/adrian-sutil/

http://www.f1.co.uk/brazil/

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