Sutil suffers grid penalty

Adrian Sutil's off in final practice for the Japanese Grand Prix will cost the German more than lost track time after damage to his Force India proved to be greater than first thought.

The German had completed only eight laps when he lost the rear of his car on the exit of the Spoon curve, hitting the barrier on the inside of the track with enough force to break off his front wing before spinning round and damaging the rear suspension.

Once the car had been returned to the pit garage, however, Sutil's engineers discovered that the German's gearbox had also been affected by the shunt and, with the current unit not having completed the mandatory five events, replacing it automatically incurred a five-place grid penalty.

While Sutil's 18th place in FP3 is not representative of his true ability, team-mate Paul di Resta managed only P15, so the penalty could see the German down among the final rows of the grid on Sunday afternoon.