Grow up, Lewis! Sutil hits out at Hamilton and claims Mercedes star is scared of him

By Phil Duncan for MailOnline

Published: 03:25 EST, 23 August 2013 | Updated: 04:05 EST, 23 August 2013

Adrian Sutil has reignited his bitter feud with rival Lewis Hamilton after claiming the British star needs to 'grow up'.

The Force India driver, who was slapped with an 18-month suspended sentence and fined £167,000 after assaulting Lotus executive Eric Lux with a broken champagne glass, also believes Hamilton is scared of him.

The former best pals fell out after Hamilton, who was celebrating his victory at the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix when the incident occurred at M1NT Nightclub in Shanghai, didn't appear as a witness at Sutil's resulting trial.

Hamilton has since vowed to patch things up with the German driver. But speaking ahead of this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, Sutil claims he is still waiting to speak to the Mercedes star.

'He has his life and his idea of how he wants to be and I think he needs to grow up a little bit,' Sutil told The National when asked about Hamilton.

'I am not so in touch with him anymore. He is not able to speak – maybe he is scared of me, I don't know. There is a time when people have to grow up and he hasn't done it.'

Hamilton arrives at round 11 of the championship as arguably the main challenger to Sebastian Vettel's bid for a fourth consecutive title.

And the British star, who won his first race for Mercedes last time out at the Hungarian Grand Prix, is hopeful he can claim his second world crown. 

'I'm in a really good place. I feel very open-minded about what's possible,' Hamilton said in his BBC column.

'I feel massively determined, more focused than ever and generally excited about what's ahead.

'The championship is always in the back of your mind, but you never know what's going to happen on any given weekend. I come here to Spa wanting to win more than ever but it's about managing expectations.'

Hamilton added: 'We have a good car so we should be competitive and that gives me a great feeling because I know if I'm at my best I should be able to eke out an even better results.

'But I don't think I'm Sebastian Vettel's main challenger in the championship, as some people are saying.

'I come here knowing Ferrari have probably made a step. Fernando Alonso is going to be competitive and Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus is going to be hard work as well. I still feel Sebastian's Red Bull is the best car. So they are going to be tough to beat, but I don't feel it's impossible.'