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Unlike the most of his contemporaries, Sutil’s first love was not found on a race track but in a concert hall. The son of a celebrated musician, the young German seemed destined to follow in his Uruguayan father’s footsteps and become a concert pianist, until a chance discovery of karting at the age of 14 transformed his career aspirations for good.

After dominating various regional karting series, Sutil graduated to compete nationally, eventually taking third in the German championship aged 17. Although the highly-competitive European championship a year later proved a harder nut to crack, Sutil’s determination seemed to intensify. Cutting his losses, he boldly exited karting and moved into single-seaters for 2002, landing a race drive in the Swiss Formula Ford series.

In this case, fortune certainly favoured the brave and Sutil dominated proceedings, winning all ten Swiss events, while also taking five victories in the Austrian Formula Masters tournament. In 2003 he headed back home and competed in Germany’s Formula BMW series. Finishing sixth in the championship, Sutil failed to win a race but did take three podiums and as a result, earned a seat in the prestigious F3 Euroseries for the next season.

Racing for future Spyker team boss Colin Kolles’ team, it marked the start of a long and fruitful relationship for the pair. Even so, ambitious Sutil was brave enough to risk burning his bridges with Kolles by making a switch to the more competitive ASM team to partner fellow rookie Lewis Hamilton for the last two races of the season. The German held on to the seat for the following year, once again partnering Hamilton.

Though it was the British driver who would dominate in 2005, Sutil ended the year second best, with two wins to his name and a Formula One testing contract with Midland for 2006 in the bag, courtesy of his old friend - and now Midland team boss - Kolles. Over the year he enjoyed three impressive Friday practice outings for the team at the European, French and Japanese Grands Prix, finishing all but one session ahead of his Midland race colleagues.

Ever mindful to keep racing, however, Sutil refused to become blinded by his glamorous new Formula One opportunity and chose to compete in the 2006 Japanese F3 championship at the same time. It was a wise decision and resulted in a confidence-boosting first title, but it wasn’t long before he had even more reason to celebrate.

A surprise promotion to a 2007 race seat at Spyker - formerly Midland - was evidence indeed of the team’s belief in the young German’s talents. Just nine years into his career and with just five seasons of single-seater racing experience under his belt, Sutil’s dream of a Formula One drive had come true. Despite a less than competitive car, he justified the team's faith with some impressive performances, including P1 in a wet Monaco practice, and his first point with an eighth place in Japan.