Britain's Sky Sports is reporting that McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton has been called to give evidence in the trial in Munich, Germany, of Adrian Sutil, who faces an allegation of assault after an incident in a Shanghai nightclub last year.
The former Force India driver has been charged with one count of causing grievous bodily harm by allegedly stabbing Eric Lux – the co-owner of investment company Genii Capital, which owns the Lotus team – in the neck with a broken champagne glass. The incident took place in a nightclub where Sutil was celebrating with Hamilton after the Briton's victory in April's Chinese Grand Prix. Sutil has maintained the stabbing was purely accidental. The Munich District Court confirmed that Hamilton will be among the first witnesses when the trial starts on Monday, Jan. 30.
"The first day Lewis Hamilton is being called as a witness," court spokeswoman Ingrid Kaps told the Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper. "This is a mandatory appearance."