F1 racer hopes to win over cricket-crazy Indians

The Force India driver now sniffs an opportunity to become a sports icon in a country away from his 'fatherland'.

"It's great to be here and I just hope people here likes me. It's historic that India now has got an F1 team. Everyone should be proud of it and I'm proud to be the first driver of an Indian team," Sutil said.

"Some of the teams are named after the manufacturers but here you have a team named after the country. I would be giving my 100 percent every time and I'm confident of my abilities. I just hope to do well and expect people to embrace me," said the German, who turned 25 on Friday.

"I know people here love cricket more than any other sport. But I hope they would turn to us if we do well in F1," he said.

Before taking the F1 plunge, Sutil won the 2006 Japanese Formula Three race and finished behind Britain's Lewis Hamilton in the 2005 Formula Three series.

After Fernando Alonso left McLaren, Hamilton said he expected, among others, Sutil to fill the void even though the German decided to honour his two-year contract with Force India.

Asked if Hamilton's high praise ever puts him in pressure, Sutil said, "Not at all. We are buddies and it's always nice to hear those words. We respect each other as drivers and rate each other very highly.

"Though we generally try to avoid racing when we meet, you need to switch off after doing it day in and day out we do discuss each other's problems." Looking ahead, Sutil said Force India was good enough to retain the result it achieved in its Jordan avatar.

"As Jordan, they were quite successful. Though it subsequently changed hands quite a few times, almost 90 per cent people remains in the team. There is no doubt we can do it again.

"We have a good budget now. The engineers, designers and the drivers need just the right direction to deliver the goods," he said.

Asked about the target for this season, Sutil said he would like to finish the year with some points in his pocket.

"Not just one point, which we scored with Spykar. I think we need to finish with some points so that we can build up from there," he said.

Though Spykar did not do well last year, Sutil looked impressive enough to draw offers from various teams.

Asked what made him stay with Force India, the German said, "I did talk to different teams but at the end of the day I had a contract with Force India and after Vijay (Mallya) taking over, things looked bright.