Sutil's manager seeks conciliation over injury, but it looks unlikely

The situation surrounding the injury sustained by Renault F1's Eric Lux at the hands of Force India driver Adrian Sutil in a Shanghai nightclub continues to fascinate the paddock.

From Force India's cryptic statement which fully supported their driver, for this race, to the last line of Lux's lawyer's press release which hinted that he would also be seeking redress from others who may have had an indirect involvement, the story has more twists and turns than this Catalunya circuit.

Sutil's manager Manfred Zimmerman has made some interesting comments to a couple of my German colleagues which are worth noting. In reference to Force India's temporary support, he said, "We're taking it as read that Adrian will be driving in the next races."

Force India has Nico Hulkenberg, arguably the most capable of all reserve drivers in the field at the moment, to fall back on if the situation requires it. He drove the car this morning, as he does every Friday at Grands Prix, so is current and ready to go if Sutil cannot continue for whatever reason.

Anxious to avoid this, Zimmerman says that he's been seeking conciliation with Lux for the last two weeks but has not been able to get through.

"I called him on the phone straight after the event, apologised and said that as soon as Adrian got back to Europe he would apologise, as he has done. For the last two weeks we have tried to find a solution that would work for both sides. But Mr Lux's side hasn't been able to discuss it. Four weeks after the event there is still nothing official, just the press release from the lawyer in Switzerland announcing the intention to prosecute."

French colleagues tell me that Lux is a very determined man and he has decided to go for it, unhappy at the way the incident occurred and by the way it was handled afterwards.