Lewis Hamilton pays tribute to Ayrton Senna during the Formula 1 Lenovo Grande Premio De Sao Paulo 2024 - Source: Getty
F1 driver Adrian Sutil had previously claimed that he respected Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton as a "sportsman" but did not consider him to be "on his level" in private. The then-McLaren driver had been friendly to the former German driver in their early days in the sport.
But Hamilton decided to cut ties with the former Force India driver after the latter got in an altercation at a nightclub after the Brit's 2011 Chinese GP victory. Sutil was charged with causing bodily harm after assaulting Lotus executive Eric Lux with a champagne glass.
The German had hoped that Lewis Hamilton would act as a witness but never stood up for him, as he said (as per Bleacher Report):
"These kind of people I don't really respect. I respect him [Lewis Hamilton] as a sportsman, but in private he's not on my level and I don't need to waste time with those people. I'm happy I realized what kind of a person he is,"
