The word on the street is that Force India will shortly confirm that Nico Hulkenberg will be the team’s second driver in 2012, alongside Paul di Resta. Sources suggest that the contract was signed earlier this week with Force India having an option for 2013. Adrian Sutil has been with the team for his entire F1 career, beginning as a test driver in 2006 when the organisation was owned by Midland. The following year it was Spyker and Sutil scored one point although in 2008, by now Force india, the progress was still slow but he finished 17th in the championship. Last year with a better car he was 11th. This year is in the same position but new boy Paul di Resta has been getting stronger and stronger and the team seems to have concluded that there is more potential in the younger German.
Sutil’s future has also been clouded by an incident in a Shanghai night club with Genii Capital’s Eric Lux, which resulted in Lux filing a criminal complaint for physical assault and grievous bodily harm against Sutil.
It remains to be seen what will happen to Sutil in F1 terms.
joeblogsf1 
Hope so.
No ill wishes to Sutil, but glad to see Hulkenberg overcome getting screwed this season by pay-seat-ism. Better to have lost one season rather than two.
The Hulk had a good season with Williams and I was shocked no other team made a seat available for him. FI is the only option for him as Merc have commitment for Schumacher next year now. My only query is the state of Massa’s contract as him being dropped could bring a drive elsewhere. Shame for Sutil that he cut his chances at Renault Lotus as that would be a good option for him otherwise!
Not unexpected news. Sutil’s was seen hanging around Williams some weeks ago.
With Sahara getting a stake, I would have expected an Indian to be given a shot. It would be interesting to see what Chandok does in a decent car that actually makes the race distance.
Good choosing by FI. Hulk is quick and I think he will fit in well there. For one season that is then I expect merc for 2013.
Finally got past the great Chinese firewall don’t know why they don’t like you Joe.
Anyway I think FI probably thinks they need new blood sorry for Sutil but like a lot of things employees only seem to push hard when there jobs in jeopardy
Looking forward to the Hulk v Di Resta…fancy the German to win that battle!
Great news for Hulk! 2012 will be very important for both him and di Resta as with Schumacher most likely calling it a day at the end of the year, both could be fighting it out for the vacant seat.
I thought this was going to be the likely outcome, still think that Di Resta is being groomed for bigger things. Heard that McLaren were involved in bringing Di Resta to F1 along with Mercedes. Any chance he’s in line for a Hamilton replacement? think Button and Di Resta at McLaren would be an awesome line up. No offence to Lewis but i see him replacing Webber at Red Bull even though all parties seem coy on the idea.
Good Luck to the Hulk though, Williams missed a lot in having to let him go, all SFI’s gain though. Expecting a lot from this team next year.
As some wag said on twitter: F1 is a cut throat business
I think this is really unfair on sutil, he has shown for the last few years he is really fast and collecting plenty of points!! I do admire Hukenburg but I don’t think Di resta has been that amazing! He has been good but sutil is much better at overtaking and pure speed. Di resta is not the best passer but I will admit he has his seat due to merc but I think sutil should keep his seat!
Good move by Force India. To be honest, it’s a shame they didn’t run both di Resta and Hulkenberg this season as the race drivers. Hulkenberg showed real promise in the second half of 2010.
@Forceindy
I think Di Resta is showing a brilliant performance for a rookie, who came from DTM racing. Sutil had his time, he had some good races but I do remember quite a lot of mistakes and spins as well. He isn’t really the team leader at FI as well, as Di Resta is now beating him sometimes. If Force India is dropping him, I am sure he will pop up somewhere with his Medion Sponsorship.
The problem with sutil, as a lead driver in a team, he is inconsistent and despite he is relatively experienced, he still makes stupid mistake. For me, hulk seems to have more potential to be explored yet!
I don’t mind Sutil but he’s been with Force India for a good while. I think it’s healthy for both parties to move on. If the stories are true, I hope he finds his feet somewhere suitable.
Sutil has been given more than enough chances, and has (in my opinion) never shown that he has race-leading pace; you don’t have to be in the fastest car to show this, it’s more about thrashing your team mate into a pulp. Time for someone else to have a go.
Nobody knows what’s in all those contracts, so I wonder if Medion will follow Sutil everywhere he goes…
So Sutil won’t be at Force India, that would suggest, as they’ve both been seen at Williams, to put him in competition with Kimi for that seat. My question is however that does the fact Kyle Busch, having run Kimi in Nationwide, announcing he’s starting a full time team there next year mean Kimi’s off the Nathionwide Series and it’s between Sutil and Rubens for the WIlliams seat? The timing off these things all coming in the same day or two suggests they may connection
Could it be that Willi Weber is looking to replace Mick with another one of his clients? There has been many reports of Merc eyeing DiResta to replace Mick when he retires again, maybe next year will be a bit of a competition between these two to see who gets to drive for the Factory?
Joe,
“Sutil’s future has also been clouded by an incident in a Shanghai night club with Genii Capital’s Eric Lux, which resulted in Lux filing a criminal complaint for physical assault and grievous bodily harm against Sutil.”
Just what is happening with the complaint? This was some time ago already.
Johan,
It is supposed to be going through the necessary steps in court in Germany (I think).
I think Hulkenberg deserves a seat in Formula One. He was absolute outstanding in the junior series.
I wonder how complaints about incidents in other countries are usually handled. The incident between Sutil and Lux was for not a police matter in China, I believe. Why go to court in Germany over something that happened in China?
In May there were reports that Lux had decided to file a criminal complaint against Sutil and that both the FIA and Force India would be notified once this was done.
But has Lux really filed a complaint? If so, where and when?
Great news. Sutil is a decent driver and no more. The prospect of Hulkenberg and di Resta in the same team is mouthwatering. They may lack experience but they are both genuine prospects.
@ForceIndy
Despite being a rookie, never having driven on several of the tracks, not having raced a single-seater of any kind in 5 seasons and losing his car to Hulkenberg on several Friday mornings di Resta has out-qualified Sutil 9-7 this season and has finished ahead of him 8 times in 16 races. Logic says that with a season’s F1 experience he will be even better next season. Why on that basis would anyone choose Sutil over di Resta?
100 million dollar investment by Sahara!! this is the team to look for future!!!! I think Adrian never had a strong team mate, as soon as Paul jumps in the cockpit, he was equal or better thn him!!! sounds reasonable to give Hulk a chance!!!.. I feel bad for Sutil though!! But his time has come!!!! I think joining Renault last year would have been best for his career (He was in talk with thm last year, if i remember correclty)!!!
I’d like to see Hulkenburg get another chance. I don’t think he did too much special in his debut year apart from a very good pole with a quite bit of luck on his side. Still he did it when the chance was given.
To my surprise Maldonado has probably been more impressive. Whether that’s because Rubens has fallen off form or because Maldonado had the benefit of years more experience I am not sure.
Still, I think Hulkenburg deserves a decent go.
What now for Sutil? He cetinaly deserves a seat somewhere as well – perhaps Virgin or HRT – though I don’t think he carries big sponsorship to land those roles.
I would think he would be a good option for Renault – though they only seem totbe considering rookies for some odd reason. I would take Sutil over Rubens for an experienced teammate to measure Senna against next year since internet rumours suggest Petrov may not be around next season.