Early Career
Born on January 11th, 1983 in Germany, Adrian Sutil started out as a budding young pianist, spurred on by his musical father Jorge, who played the violin for the Munchen Philharmonic Orchestra. However, at the comparatively late age of 14, Adrian got his first taste of kart racing and hasn’t looked back since.
In 2002, Sutil managed to get a drive in Formula Ford, and he took the championship at his first attempt, winning all ten races from ten pole positions – something of an impressive feat. By 2005, Adrian had progressed on to the Formula Three Euroseries, and finished the year with 11 podiums from the 18 races, and ended up second in the title race. However, it was a contact from this time that led to the German driver making the final step to Formula One.
2007
With Spyker now owning the former Midland team, new owners Michel Mol and Colin Kolles set about revamping the failing team and bringing in new drivers and sponsors. Wanting to keep the outfit predominantly Dutch with regards to these two areas, Christijan Albers was retained and thanks to his friendship with Kolles, Sutil was awarded a full-time drive.
Adrian had a mixed debut year, but on the whole impressed team bosses up and down the paddock. While the Spyker car was generally lacking in pace, Sutil showed maturity and commitment while racing the tail-end of the midfield. A surprise result in Japan, mainly down to atrocious weather conditions, meant that Adrian scored a world championship point, albeit gifted after the car ahead was disqualified.
Spyker were sold (again) to Indian entrepreneur Vijay Mallya in the latter half of 2007, and the team was re-branded into Force India. During the winter they tested a whole throng of drivers including former winners Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella. However, despite a shake up in the second seat, Sutil’s berth was safe and the German remained woth the team as they transitioned in to Force India.
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