Adrian Sutil: My thoughts

Photo: Morio

Force India look set to replace Adrian Sutil with Nico Hulkenberg for 2012, but Sutil's recent performances have some people questioning this move.

However, I find it very hard to see why Sutil deserves a drive in that team over Paul di Resta or Hulkenberg.

Comparing Sutil to di Resta, the German has scored more points this year. However, does that make him better? Let's look at the facts here...

Prior to 2011, di Resta had raced touring cars in the DTM (I don't care what you say about whether the DTM are actually touring cars or not - the truth is they are not single-seaters!) for four years.

In that same period of time, Sutil had been racing in F1 for four years. For the very same Silverstone-based team that we know today as Force India.

I don't know about you, but I feel that based on that, Sutil really ought to have been thrashing di Resta this year. The difference really hasn't been that great at all though.

Sutil only got his original chance in F1 thanks to his sponsorship. Being Japanese F3 champion simply does not earn you an F1 drive.

When he got into F1, he performed very well - and continued to do so to the point that he warranted being retained year-on-year by Force India.

However, I don't think he has done well enough vs di Resta to force the Scot out of a seat, and Hulkenberg is a far greater talent than Sutil ever was. If Schumacher (hopefully) retires again for 2013, expect his replacement at Mercedes to be one of di Resta or Hulkenberg.

Despite this opinion, I do not feel Sutil's days in F1 are over. If I were senior management at Williams I would be signing him up immediately. His combination of experience, pace and sponsorship money makes him a far better option in my opinion for Williams than Valtteri Bottas.

This might sound odd to you, seeing how much I like to champion young talents. But I feel that a Bottas-Maldonado combination would destroy Williams' season before it has even started. It took Hulkenberg, a GP2 champion, half a year to acclimatise to F1. Bottas on the other hand has never raced a high-powered single-seater before in his life.

Bottas could of course just be another Raikkonen, who seamlessly leaped from Formula Renault 2.0 to F1. But I don't see why it is worth the risk for Williams next year. If it was a case of putting Bottas alongside Barrichello - then go for it. But you need someone to lead the team and I can't see Maldonado doing that job.

So yes, I want Sutil out of Force India - but the F1 ride ain't over for him just yet.