Adrian Sutil has spoken at length about his feelings for the first time since he witnessed the crash of Jules Bianchi at the Japanese Grand Prix last weekend.
The German driver was standing just metres away from the recovery vehicle which was struck by Bianchi’s Marussia when he lost control of his car in the wet conditions.
Sutil said the Russian GP would be run under a “grey cloud” and all the drivers would be praying and racing for Bianchi this weekend.
“So hard to say in words,” said the Sauber driver. “Of course, very shocking moment for everyone, for myself.
“Probably everyone has seen it. It’s just… we have to pray right now. This is all we can do. We can hope that we get some better news.
“It’s just that we are now here in Sochi, a grey cloud over us but try to be professional enough, more professional and focus on the race weekend again and also good to get rid a little bit of this mood but still it affects everyone. My thoughts are the same. Pray for the best and race for him.”
When asked to recount what he saw, Sutil explained that the incident happened so quickly he only remembers the moments after the crash.
“I was standing there and of course I was not expecting anyone to go off and when I realised that there was a car coming it was in the gravel already. I just saw the last seconds. I don’t know what happened before. I can’t really say. I was just a witness until when the fatal crash really happened. But I haven’t seen what happened before. That’s it.”
