F1: Sutil Found Guilty In German Court

Formula 1

F1: Sutil Found Guilty In German Court

Adrian Sutil has been handed an 18-month suspended sentence and fined €200,000 for his role in a bar fight last April...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted January 31, 2012 Balen (BEL)

Adrian Sutil drove for Force India last season. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Adrian Sutil has been found guilty in a Munich court of causing grievous bodily harm to Genii and Lotus F1 co-owner Eric Lux after an incident in China last year.

Sutil has been handed an 18-month suspended sentence and fined €200,000.

The incident occurred on the Sunday night of the Chinese GP at a public party in a club attended my many GP drivers.

It resulted after Lewis Hamilton and his party – which included Sutil – were ushered by club management into a VIP area already occupied by Lux and his group.

CCTV footage viewed by SPEED.com last year showed Sutil sitting next to Hamilton, with Lux standing over them, and a discussion apparently taking place.

Lux then suddenly grabbed Sutil’s left arm and tried to pull him out of the chair, and it was while Sutil tried to defend himself and push Lux away with his free right hand – in which he was still holding a glass – that the injury occurred.

Given that most people would regard what happened as an instinctive act of self defense – albeit resulting one in an unfortunate injury – the sentence seems heavy handed at best.

Bizarrely, late last year Sutil and his management met with both Lux and his partner Gerard Lopez to discuss a 2012 seat at Lotus. Had that happened, one presumes that an accommodation would have been reached.

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.