Little to lose for Sauber driver Adrian Sutil at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

On his way out of Sauber, the German will be driving for pleasure at the ‘Monaco of the Middle East’, writes Gary Meenaghan.

Adrian Sutil of Germany and Sauber F1 drives during practice ahead of the United States Formula One Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas on October 31, 2014 in Austin, United States. Mark Thompson/GeShow more

It is pointless to compare, it is pointless to speculate. After 22 consecutive years in Formula One, the Sauber F1 Team are one race away from their first season without recording a point – and there is nowhere to point the blame except at home.

The small Swiss marque, based out of Hinwil in Zurich, finished seventh in the constructors’ championship last year but have struggled this year to get to grips with the sport’s new engines and regulations.

This season, with neither Adrian Sutil nor Esteban Gutierrez able to secure a top-10 finish, the team look set for an ignominious end to the calendar year.

They sit 10th in the standings and have already told both drivers they will be replaced next year, sparking rumours regarding contractual issues.

It has been a forgettable season, which is probably a silver lining for the team’s management.

For Sutil, though, an eloquent German with seven years’ experience in motorsport’s top tier, this was not what he expected when he joined Sauber last January.

Arriving from Force India, he hoped to help his team progress and possibly push for a higher finish in the constructors’ ­standings.

As early as pre-season testing, however, it became evident that such an outcome was unlikely.

Yet, as late as October, he was still discussing his team’s hopes for next season. Such talk is now redundant.

Sutil, despite his contract having another year left on it, is out. He has been cast aside as the team continue to search for stability, both financially and in terms of their driver line-up.

As has been evidenced at several teams over several seasons, it does not take long for a driver to start venting his frustrations when the car is letting him down.

Pastor Maldonado famously spoke out last season, claiming his team Williams were sabotaging his performance.

Credit then to Sutil for covering up Sauber’s deficiencies and getting on with the task at hand. He has retired seven times from 18 races and finished between 15th and 11th another seven times.

When Sauber announced this month that Sutil and Gutierrez would be replaced by Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr, the German was cautious with his words.

“They’ve confirmed two drivers, but that doesn’t mean they can drive and it doesn’t mean the team’s going to drive,” he said.

Monisha Kaltenborn, the team principal, did not hide the fact the decision was taken with cash-flow in mind.

“When private teams make decisions they have to take financial aspects into consideration, otherwise it gets very difficult to survive,” she said.

“That’s the situation, but it’s now different for us. This is a step in the right direction.”

The result is that Sutil’s F1 career is likely to end this weekend in what will be his last race for Sauber and the team’s last chance to secure points.

The saving grace for the team is that they contest the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix knowing double points are on offer.

The marque sit ahead of Caterham, whose best finish was 11th in Monaco, but behind Marussia who – before entering administration – finished ninth to score two points at the same race.

The difference between ninth place and 11th place is in the region of US$17 million (Dh62.5m) and should a driver finish ninth at Yas, they will, crucially, gain their team four points rather than two.

The double-points rule has been heavily criticised and Sutil is not a supporter of it. He does, though, appreciate that the incentive forces teams to continue working on their cars even at the last race of the season.

Speaking in Sochi and before he was informed of his future at Sauber, he said: “It’s quite a strange rule. It just doesn’t make much sense to get double reward for the last race.

“It is quite unfair to small teams who made a great race in the middle of the season, got some points and then another team gets double points for the same work. But we’ll see how it works.

“It does not only have downsides though: you can gamble a little bit and prepare your car even more for the last race, even make some developments for the last race because it can pay off. It opens up the potential for the small teams to get some decent points.”

So the 31-year-old driver is out, but he is still hoping things click in the UAE capital, at a race weekend he calls “the Monaco of the Middle East”.

He has competed here four times, with his best result in 2011 when he took eighth in his Force India. After missing out in 2012, he followed it up with a 10th- place finish last year.

“Sometimes teams find their car is fast only on certain tracks,” he said. “I remember in 2009, my Force India was fast only on three tracks and that was it.

“We could almost win the race on those circuits, but we were nowhere on the others. If you develop this aspect on your car, this year you can make it really pay off in Abu Dhabi.”

While Sutil’s future at Sauber is approaching its end, the team could be in a far stronger position off track should recent rumours bear fruit.

Lawrence Stroll, a Canadian billionaire whose son is part of the Ferrari driver academy, has been heavily linked with a takeover of the Swiss marque and in F1 more money means more ­performance.

It is a key factor in the team’s decision to bring in Ericsson and Nasr, who both bring sizeable sponsorship packages.

Sauber, who have a strategic partnership with English Premier League club Chelsea, will be well aware that while some sports use a financial boost to invest in better athletes, F1 is more team related.

Nobody is claiming next year’s line-up is any better than this year’s, but more money – be it from drivers’ sponsors or wealthy owners – means better facilities, better engineers, greater staff numbers, simulators, testing opportunities and a host of other benefits.

“To run a proper F1 team, you need a certain amount of money and this varies quite a lot throughout the grid,” Sutil said.

“The more you have, the more you can develop, more parts you can produce, the faster you can develop and the more time you can spend in the wind tunnel. You can buy the best parts – lightweight always means expensive – so it is pretty easy to explain where the money would go.

“It is a sport that is very expensive and so the more you have the more you can do.

“We have smaller teams and bigger teams and so then it is a question of manpower: the more people you have working, the faster the process. The more brains involved, the better solutions will come out.”

Sutil, having contested 127 grands prix, is well known in the paddock and a failure to score a point at Yas Marina will reflect more on the team than it will the driver. Expect, then, the former Spyker driver to grin and bear it, and make the most of what is expected to be his final weekend in the sport.

“Abu Dhabi always has a good atmosphere,” he said.

“It’s packed every year and, the first year, it was quite a surprise when we got there to see how much attention we got from the fans at the circuit. I’m looking forward to it.”

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