Sutil fined for GBH
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
Former Formula One driver Adrian Sutil has been handed an 18-month suspended sentence after being found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm.
The 29-year-old, who was sacked from the Force India team in December, was accused of injuring Renault F1 executive Eric Lux with a champagne glass at a party in a Shanghai nightclub last April.
Sutil claimed his intention had been to spill his drink on Lux, who was wounded in the neck, and said the injury had been accidental.
"I'm terribly sorry. I never wanted what happened there to happen," Sutil said during the trial.
But the Munich district court found the German guilty of the offence, and he has been fined 200,000 euros - which will be paid to charity - as well as receiving an 18-month suspended jail term.
It is unclear at this stage whether the FIA will withdraw Sutil's 'super licence', which all drivers need to compete at F1 level.