Sutil has 'enough friends' without Hamilton

Mar.28 (GMM) Adrian Sutil has admitted that discovering Lewis Hamilton was not a friend was one of life's "disappointments".

Adrian Sutil, 2011

Photo by: xpb.cc

Since their F3 days as teammates, Sutil and Hamilton have been arguably the closest pair of friends in the Formula One paddock.

That changed, however, when the German driver was charged with assaulting Lotus team executive Eric Lux, and Hamilton was summoned as a witness to the Shanghai nightclub incident.

But Briton Hamilton declined to appear and also changed his mobile phone number without informing Sutil.

Sutil and his father reacted by calling the McLaren driver "pathetic" and a "coward".

When asked about his former close friend, Sutil told Die Welt newspaper: "Basically I only had a problem with one person, which was Mr Lux.

"He has offered me his hand and said that for him, the issue is finished.

"What Lewis Hamilton does is not decisive for my ambitions to get back to Formula One. Just as with defeats, you have to deal with disappointments, it's as simple as that.

"I think no one should expect to find any friends in the paddock -- and I don't look for them there either. I have enough friends outside of F1," added Sutil.