Category: Formula 1

Former Force India driver Adrian Sutil has been found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm to Eric Lux by a Munich court. The 29-year-old German, who is without a drive in 2012 after being replaced by Nico Hulkenberg, has been given an 18 month suspended jail sentence and a €200,000 fine.

The incident happened in a Shanghai nightclub following last year’s Chinese Grand Prix. Judge Christiane Thiemann found Sutil guilty of injuring Lux, CEO of Genii Capital, with a champagne glass. Lux required several stitches to help heal the resulting neck wound.

Speaking after the two-day trial Sutil said, “Maybe I will take some time out now. Maybe I will do something completely different, think about things in peace.

“At least I shook Mr Lux’s hands. That’s a good thing.”

On the opening day of the trial Sutil claimed he had apologised to Lux several times and said he had no intention of causing him any harm, rather he simply wanted throw a drink in his face.

Prosecutor Nicole Selzam asked the court for a 21 month suspended sentence and a €300,000 fine stating, “Pushing someone away with a glass is adventurous and not in line with our experience of life.

“Professional athletes play a role model function in public life and such incidents should not occur.”

For his part Sutil will be happier the court decided on a lesser sentence and can take some heart that his fine will be paid to charities.

Lewis Hamilton, winner of the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix, was a witness to the events in the Shanghai nightclub but was apparently too busy to attend the court case.

[Source: Reuters | Pic: Sutton Images]

Pirelli has updated its tyre range for the 2012 Formula One season. The most obvious changes are the markings on the side, which hark back to the old Bridgestone look with a bold stripe around the sidewall. Keen observers will also note that the colours used for the intermediate tyres (now green) and full wets (now blue) have changed from the blue and orange used last year.

Wet weather tyres now wear Cinturato branding, while the slicks continue to carry the P Zero name. All tyres use a squarer profile, which should offer greater grip during cornering. With the exception of the Supersofts (red) all compounds have received a series of upgrades from their 2011 specs. This has been done to try and narrow the performance gap between the compounds.

Pirelli tell us they have also worked hard to improve rear-end grip, which should compensate for the expected loss in traction at the rear axle now that blown floors have been banned.

More detail can be read in this PDF (150kb) or by watching the short intro video after the break. The first pic after the video can be viewed at 3000px sizing; simply click on the image to open the bigger size.

Bruno Senna will fill the vacant Williams F1 seat after he signed a new deal with the team today.

The news means the 19 year F1 career of Rubens Barrichello has come to a rather untidy end. With 11 victories to his name and a respected career it’s fair to assume Barrichello deserved a better farewell than this, especially when you consider his final race was his home Grand Prix in Brazil.

Barrichello has just used his twitter account to confirm the news: “I won’t be driving the Williams car this year. I wish my friend @BSenna all the best…the future is wide open,” he said.

Confirming the announcement Senna said in an WilliamsF1 statement, Bruno commented, “I feel very privileged that Williams has selected me as one of their race drivers. The team has a great heritage and I hope I can help write a good chapter in their history.

“It will be very interesting to drive for a team that my uncle has driven for, particularly as quite a few of the people here actually worked with Ayrton. Hopefully we can bring back some memories and create some great new ones too.”

Full details after the break, including a Q&A interview with Bruno.

[Thanks to Wes & Ryan for the tips]

Robert Kubica’s comeback to Formula One has been dealt another blow following reports he has broken his right leg. It’s the same leg which suffered fractures in that horrific rally accident which caused him to miss the entire 2011 F1 season. He now faces up to month in plaster.

It’s understood Kubica slipped on some ice and fell in the garden at his home in Poland and afterwards complained of pain his leg. He was driven to hospital where checks revealed the 27-year-old had re-fractured his right tibia.

Kubica is apparently on the outer with his F1 team Lotus (nee Renault) and the Enstone outfit has previously said their relationship was at “point zero”. Although, they have also said they will do what they can to help him return to F1.

Meanwhile, Ferrari are believed to show interest in Kubica once he regains full fitness. Speaking before this latest injury became public Stefano Domenicali played a straight bat to suggestions Kubica could join Alonso at Ferrari in 2013.

“Robert is a great driver, but he had very severe injuries and he is still working to get back to normal living. We need to wait to see. That kind of injury takes a long time to recover from,” Domenicali said.

[Source: BBC]

It’s now almost two years since Michael Schumacher returned to F1 at the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix. Of course, the 2011 race was cancelled due to civil unrest in the country. Since then the Bahrain royal family has assured us, and more importantly Bernie Ecclestone, that all is now okay in their kingdom and the Bahrain Grand Prix has been confirmed on the 2012 calendar for 22 April.

That’s all well and good, but the BBC reports there are new concerns over the future of this year’s race with the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) is calling for F1 teams to boycott the race.

In an interview with Arabian Business, Nabeel Rajab, BCHR Vice-President said, “We will campaign for…drivers and teams to boycott. The government wants Formula One to tell the outside world that everything is back to normal.

“Formula One, if they come, they are helping the government to say [it is normal]. We would prefer it if they didn’t take part. I am sure the drivers and teams respect human rights.”

Patrick Head is synonymous with Williams F1, that is why his departure is big news for the team and the sport of Formula One. He has been with Williams for 34 years after co-founding it with Sir Frank Williams and was the engineering guru behind the team’s 16 world championships (seven driver’s titles and nine constructor’s).

Last season was one of the team’s poorest years. The official statement from Williams sounds a bit dramatic when it states: “Williams Grand Prix Holdings PLC (Ticker: WGF1) today confirms that Director of Engineering Patrick Head will step down from its Board of Directors with immediate effect.”

However, it would appear there is nothing sinister at play and it is more a case of Head winding down his enviable motorsport career. Speaking to Autosport he said, “I certainly did not have an ambition to end my involvement in F1 with the season I have just had behind us.

“But when I have a look at what specifically I can do to assist Mike Coughlan, and Mark Gillan and Jason Somerville, I came to the conclusion that it isn’t enough for me to carry on justifying doing the same thing.

“Certainly it is not the word retirement but I am not going to be directly part of the Williams F1 programme next year.

“I am going to be doing some work for Williams Hybrid Power, which may sound a bit dry and dull but it is actually quite high tech and quite interesting.”

An official statement from Williams Grand Prix Holdings, including comments from Sir Frank, can be read after the break.