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'I've done everything I can' - Sutil

Adrian Sutil was happy with his return to the cockpit © Sutton Images

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Adrian Sutil is confident he has done everything he can to secure the remaining Force India race seat, but believes the team's decision is not wholly based on performance.

Sutil is vying for the second Force India drive with Jules Bianchi and returned the cockpit on Thursday for the first time since the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2011. He clocked the eighth fastest lap, a second off Fernando Alonso's headline time, and completed 78 laps over the course of the day.

Sutil is confident he impressed given the circumstances and believes he will get the seat if the decision is based on talent alone.

"I don't know who has the better chances," he said. "I think I've done everything to do my comeback here and now it's up to them to decide. There is one more competitor in there and for sure it's not all about driving, maybe it's also a little bit of business behind it, but I can't do anything else. I did a good day, that was very important for me so I can sleep without any worries, let's say.

"I think it was important for them to see how I am back in the car, how I behave, how my speed is. A one year break is a little while but normally there's no problem to step back in the race car and be competitive again, so I think it was important to show it. The first lap was right there on the pace and they were quite surprised. That's nice and their faces were all quite happy."

Asked if there were factors other than talent deciding the seat, he said: "For sure, if you think about it it has to be something else otherwise they would have confirmed the driver in January with plenty of time before the first test. Now it is not optimum for the preparation for Melbourne, but I think Vijay [Mallya] is behind it and he will make a decision as quick as possible. For sure [there is] some business behind there, I don't really know, but the most important for me was to deliver the performance here, so I have done my part."

Sutil ruled out opting for a test drive next year and said he would look to other categories if he is passed over for the Force India drive.

"It would be a nice feeling. Of course I'm now 30 and I still have got a few more years to race these cars, so I want to do that of course. I mean if that doesn't work, there's always something else to do. There's several opportunities... I haven't checked out what's my Plan B at the moment. I want to have this cockpit and I've tried everything for it, but there are many other categories I will have a look at."

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