Former F1 Driver Arrested on Suspicion of 'Fraud and Embezzlement'

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Former Force India and Sauber driver Adrian Sutil was arrested on Friday in Germany following an international raid that saw addresses in Monaco, Switzerland, and the German town of Sindelfingen targeted. Sutil is reportedly being held pre-trial in a Baden-Württemberg court following his arrest on suspicion of fraud and embezzlement, as the German news outlet Bild first reported, with the story being amplified by The Sun.

Sutil last served as a reserve driver for Haas in F1 in 2015. He competed for 7 seasons with the Spyker, Force India, and Sauber F1 teams. The German driver's career was not without incident, as an off-track incident in a Shanghai nightclub forced him out of F1 following the 2011 season.

Sutil was given an 18-month suspended sentence with a fine. Following the incident, Sutil returned to F1 with Force India in 2013 before ending his career with Sauber in 2014. In 128 starts, Sutil had a best finish of fourth, being passed the crown of most starts without a podium by Nico Hülkenberg, when the Danish driver finally achieved third earlier this year in his 239th start at Silverstone. Ironically, Hulkenberg replaced Sutil at Force India when the driver left following his guilty verdict in the Lux incident.

Since leaving F1, Sutil has been mainly out of the public eye, aside from some runs in the Ferrari Challenge in 2022 and 2023, and an entry in the historic Millie Migliain 2018. Sutil's name was back in the press negatively in 2020 after reports that he had crashed his $1.5 million LM-Spec McLaren Senna just outside of Monaco. The supercar was one of just 24 made.

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