Sutil’s anger at ‘coward’ Hamilton in assault case

Former Force India driver Adrian Sutil has labelled Lewis Hamilton a “coward” and says their friendship is over after the McLaren man declined to testify at his trial this week.

Sutil was given an 18-month suspended sentence and fined £167,000 by Munich district court judge Christiane Thiemann on Tuesday after being found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm.

Hamilton had been expected to be summoned as a witness to give evidence on Monday, the first day of the trial.

However, Hamilton’s lawyer informed the court his client was unavailable due to a prior engagement with McLaren.

“Lewis is a coward,” Sutil told German newspaper Bild. “I do not want to be friends with someone like that. He is for me no man. Even his father sent me a text message and wished me luck for the process. Lewis came with nothing. He has changed his phone number. I could not reach him any more.”

Sutil, 29, was found guilty of injuring Eric Lux, chief executive of Lotus team owners Genii Capital, at a Shanghai nightclub after last April’s Chinese Grand Prix by hitting him with a champagne glass and causing a neck wound which needed 24 stitches.

Sutil said he only wanted to spill his drink on Lux and that causing the injury was completely “unintentional and accidental.” Hamilton, who had won the race, witnessed the incident.

Hamilton was back in the spotlight yesterday for the first time since the end of last season as McLaren unveiled their new car for the coming campaign, the MP4-27.

Last season was tough for Hamilton and he looked tormented in the closing weeks of the campaign. On-track incidents and accidents were compounded when he split from long-term girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger, professing at the final race weekend in Brazil that he still loved her.

Just over two months on, the 27-year-old has now wrestled with the demons in his mind following a winter in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.

“I feel fresh,” he said. “I had a really good winter. The team gave me a good bit of time off after such a long season and, obviously, we went through a lot.

“But it was just a fantastic winter where I got to spend time with friends and family and I was able to wind down.

“Then I got into quite an intense training regime, sitting down in between times where I analysed the year and certain things in my personal life which weren’t as good as they could be.

“Today I just feel very fresh in my mind and very free of any of the burdens that I had on me last year.”