The German pianist, turned racer, was hoping to make his mark with MF1 Toyota/Spyker in his capacity of part-time test driver in 2006. Sutil dominated the Swiss Formula Ford Championship in 2002, taking 12 poles and wins from 12 races...

A move to the German Formula ADAC BMW Championship followed with four podium positions and sixth position in the championship. 2004 saw him join Team Kolles in the F3 Euroseries and then the following season with Team ASM. Sutil was the runner-up in the championship in 2005.

With his connection with Colin Kolles, Sutil took part in three Friday practice sessions for MF1 Toyota, while continuing to race in the Japanese F3 series. The Munich born driver won the F3 title with Tom's Toyota and did enough in his role as F1 tester and graduated to the role of race driver alongside Christijan Albers in 2007 in the re-branded Spyker F1 Team.

It would prove to be a strong debut season for Sutil as he completely out-performed the more experienced Albers before showing the way to Sakon Yamamoto in the latter stages of the season.

Sutil would secure his first championship point at the rain hit Japanese Grand Prix at a time that the team was changing ownership from Spyker to Force India. Sutil has proven he has speed, but heading into the 2008 season, he has yet to shed the growing reputation of being accident prone.