The potential of Sutil?

[Kirk]

Adrian Sutil is getting some hype lately. He has dominated his Spyker teammate this year and his boss is touting him as a future rival to LH (see link below). Does he have it to be an F1 star?

http://www.totalf1.com/view-article.php?newsid=213239

[steve nielsen]

Kolles has various reasons to say this, one of them beeing that they have a multi year deal with Sutil wich will cost a great deal of money to buy off for any top team that wants his services.

[Super Hans]

Originally Posted by steve nielsen

Kolles has various reasons to say this, one of them beeing that they have a multi year deal with Sutil wich will cost a great deal of money to buy off for any top team that wants his services.

A valid point, but Sutil is quick regardless. He certainly has a bright future if he can maintain his pace and keep it out of the wall.

Despite what some may say, Albers has won in DTM and had two solid yet unremarkable seasons in F1. He's a reasonable yardstick for a young rookie, and Sutil has eclipsed him with ease.

[steve nielsen]

DTM is hardly a series you can compare to F1, ever seen the F1 results of "Mr DTM" Bernd Schneider??

[Super Hans]

Originally Posted by steve nielsen

DTM is hardly a series you can compare to F1, ever seen the F1 results of "Mr DTM" Bernd Schneider??

Well, comparisons with DTM aren't wholly accurate, I'll grant you, but it is highly competitive, and the fact that Albers showed well in the category makes him a better proposition than many other F1 backmarkers of recent years.

He's no Zsolt Baumgartner, let's put it that way.

[Gerben24]

Originally Posted by steve nielsen

DTM is hardly a series you can compare to F1, ever seen the F1 results of "Mr DTM" Bernd Schneider??

Not that I think Albers is WDC material, but have you ever seen the results of Hakkinen and Alesi in DTM?

[steve nielsen]

Yes I have, that's what I'm saying, it's al whole different series, beeing good in DTM does'nt mean you're good in F1 and also the other way round.

[Super Hans]

I wish I hadn’t mentioned the DTM now!

Back on topic, Sutil has shown well in the lower formulae, and has looked swift in the Spyker. I’d say he has a future in F1. Whether he'll develop into a title challenger or not is almost impossible to say.

[steve nielsen]

as long as he keeps it on the tarmac he should be able to move up(Toyota??)

[Gerben24]

Originally Posted by Super Hans

I wish I hadn’t mentioned the DTM now!

Sorry!

He has surprised me in F1, cause I didn't think he was that special in other formulas.

[f1manoz]

Despite lack of coverage, when you look in depth at his performances there is a star on the rise. He has certainly made Albers look surplus to requirements lately.

[pottiella]

look at it this way...remember a certain Mr Alonso hardly ever finishing a race in the Minardi in 2001, but still outperformed his teammate and sometimes other teams like Benetton? It's all relative, so yes, I for one think Sutil has a lot of POTENTIAL....because that's the operative word - you cant say much more than that in reality because lets face it, even our Lewis is an unknown quantity in a difficult car.

[cds_uk]

Credit where its due he has seen off Albers which was number one on his to do list, he has been mixing it with the other teams in the races which is another plus point for him, but to be fair he has visited the wall once or twice as well, not convinced yet, promising start though.

[maltafan]

Outpacing his team mate in qualifying and in races is something I think.

and yes, I would like to see him in a better car to see if he passes the 2nd test. The first one, he already did imo.

[Knowlesy]

Sutil does appear very good. Lewis rates him apparently, which is something and he has blown away Albers.

OK, fine, my grandad could outpace Albers despite the fact he is dead, but Sutil is doing it by a massive margin that will get him noticed.

Good on him. Please fulfil your "potential".

[BootsOntheSide]

In his defence, both he and Albers are crashing frequently, so it might just be a difficult car to drive close to its limit (which isn't too fast anyway). He may have lost 15-2 on wins to Lewis in their F3 season as team-mates, but he was a rookie and I expect he came 2nd to Lewis a lot (http://www.driverdb.com/racingdriver279.html says he had 11 podiums - as we've seen this year, there's no shame losing to Lewis). He could be a neat driver, but anything Colin Kolles says should be taken with all the salt in the Red Sea.

[JAG]

Originally Posted by steve nielsen

DTM is hardly a series you can compare to F1, ever seen the F1 results of "Mr DTM" Bernd Schneider??

Given the break's Schneider would have won plenty of F1 races, as would Kristensen etc.

In fact you could interchange the vast majority of F1 drivers with the best out of other disciplines, and they'd do equaly as well.

Only the likes of Hamilton, Schumacher, Senna, Prost, Mansell etc. stand above the rest.

[FPV GTHO]

I think Sutil's got some talent, but some of his rookie mistakes and lack of coaching could have come as a result of skipping GP2. He couldve been putting on alot better show had he done 1-2 years there

[Sev]

Originally Posted by Gerben24

Not that I think Albers is WDC material, but have you ever seen the results of Hakkinen and Alesi in DTM?

All the lack of success of Schneider in F1, and the lack of success of those two in DTM shows is how to the two categories are not really comparable. They use similar skills, but by no means the same.

Sutil definately has talent. However, I still harbor only one major concern about him.

Formula 3 Euroseries 2005
1.    Lewis Hamilton        ASM    161
2.    Adrian Sutil        ASM    94

At that stage, they also have very similar previous experience, so neither was at a particular advantage.

Of course, looking at Alonso, it appears losing to Hamilton is nothing to be ashamed of. But still; from that result, winning the WDC could only really be because of the car for Sutil.

[Super Hans]

Originally Posted by Sev

Formula 3 Euroseries 2005
1.    Lewis Hamilton        ASM    161
2.    Adrian Sutil        ASM    94

At that stage, they also have very similar previous experience, so neither was at a particular advantage.

I think I'm right in saying that Lewis was in his second year of Euroseries, with Sutil being in his first, which gives him an obvious advantage. Lewis's debut season in F3 was relatively mediocre, by his high standards.

Edit: Actually scratch that. A quick glance at Wiki reveals that it was also Sutil's second year. He competed in 2004 for Colin Kolles' outift. It also reveals that, like Cevert and De Angelis before him, Sutil is something of a talented pianist.

[amier]

Reminds me of when they used to compare HHF with MS, we all know what happend there.

[Super Hans]

Originally Posted by amier

Reminds me of when they used to compare HHF with MS, we all know what happend there.

Yes, MS ran off with HHF's missus.

Watch out Lewis.

[Yannick]

Montoya used to run in DTM, too, at the same time as Magnussen, Franchitti and Fisichella. If I remember correctly, Franchitti got the highest points score of the 4 back then, but never made it to F1, whilst all the others did. I guess Montoya benefits from his previous touring car experiences now in NasCar.

Alesi and Hakkinen both did OK in DTM, as did Christian Danner. Bernd Schneider needed some time to warm up to the series, but then stole the "Mr DTM" title from Klaus Ludwig. Heinz-Harald Frentzen took the hard road by joining the troubled Opel crew, and in turn failed to make much of an impression in DTM, whereas ex-Lotus pay-nonqualifier Michael Bartels has won several races in the series. Oh, and of course, Keke Rosberg himself has performed OK, too, in DTM. But Eric Van Der Poele, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Johnny Cecotto and Nicola Larini all won titles in DTM, and not much in F1.

That makes it difficult to say whether good performances in DTM are an indicator for success in F1 and vice versa.

[Knowlesy]

I think JPM only made one guest appearance for the Silverstone DTM races (1996) so it wasn't really significant experience.

DTM is not an indicator at all for F1 I'd say. Because few go from DTM to F1 in any case, it's usually the other way round which isn't really the same.

[Born Racer]

I think JPM only made one guest appearance for the Silverstone DTM races (1996) so it wasn't really significant experience.

Didn't know that. And to think just the other day I was saying to someone how I'd never seen him race. I have!