Adrian Sutil admits that a successful weekend in Monaco was just what he needed after some unwanted off-track events.
It was revealed last month that Sutil had been involved in an incident with Eric Lux, the chief executive of Genii Capital who own the Renault F1 team, after the Chinese Grand Prix on April 17. With Lux announcing his intention to lay assault charges against the German, Sutil was thrown into the limelight for all the wrong reasons.
However, the Force India driver bounced back in Monaco to record an impressive seventh place.
"It was a great race for me and very exciting. It has been a difficult time so far this season, so it is a good feeling to have a good result again and to focus on sport," Sutil admitted to the official Formula One website.
The 28-year-old reveals that he was hoping to adopt a one-stop strategy but that while he was forced to change his plans matters work out in his favour.
"I was trying to do a one-stop race," he explained.
"I knew it was going to be hard to make the tyres last for so long. After my first stop I was running fourth. But 20 laps after that pit stop I could feel that my tyres probably wouldn't last that long. I lost one position due to that and was fifth. It became clear that I needed one more pit stop, and although it wasn't perfect or planned, I could still score some okay points.
"After my little kiss with the wall at the Tabac corner, I had a puncture and was extremely lucky to get into the pits straight away to change my tyres again. So I did not lose too many positions. Then the safety car came out and actually the race was red flagged. After the restart I gained one more position and so I finished seventh. A great result for me and the team!"
The rule allowing drivers to change their tyres during a red flag situation came under scrutiny in Monaco and Sutil believes the issue should be addressed.
"I didn't directly benefit from it because I changed my tyres before the red flag. A few other cars did benefit a lot because they actually got a free pit stop. I think it's a good idea to have a look at that rule," he said.
