Sutil: « Hamilton is a coward! »
The German driver is struggling to come to terms with the absence of someone he thought was his friend during his trial for the assault of Eric Lux.
Sentenced this week to 18 months of suspended prison for assaulting Eric Lux in a Shanghai nightclub on the evening of the Chinese Grand Prix, Adrian Sutil is having a hard time today with the absence of someone he thought was his friend, Lewis Hamilton, from the witness stand.
Present at the event, the 2008 world champion was nevertheless excused by the judge in charge of the trial, arguing in a written statement that he could not recall the details of the incident, and while the trial was being held on the eve of the presentation of the new McLaren. A spokeswoman for the Munich court indicated that after the two days of hearings, the judge will consider if and when Mr. Hamilton will have to appear for a second appointment, as the trial could be paused for ten days, which apparently has been dismissed.
« Lewis is a coward! » asserts Adrian Sutil according to the German newspaper Bild. « I don’t want to be friends with someone like that. If you ask me, he’s not a man, even though his father sent me a text message to wish me good luck for the hearing. Nothing from Lewis. He even changed his phone number so that I couldn’t reach him anymore. »
The pill is all the more difficult to swallow for the German driver because this conviction seems to have contributed to putting a stop to his Formula One career, with Manfred Zimmermann admitting that it was almost impossible for Adrian Sutil to be on the grid in 2012, even if his Super Licence should not be contested by the FIA. However, there’s nothing to suggest that the testimony of the McLaren driver would have made any difference in the fate reserved for the German driver.
Update: During the presentation of the MP4-27, neither Lewis Hamilton nor McLaren-Mercedes wished to react or comment on Adrian Sutil’s statements.
