Adrian Sutil was satisfied with his performance after making his F1 return

Adrian Sutil said he was satisfied with his performance on Thursday after returning to the cockpit of a Formula 1 car for the first time in well over a year.

Sutil readily admitted that talent is only part of the equation. He brings sponsorship with him while Bianchi is backed by Ferrari, thus offering the scope for a switch to their engines in 2014. "There's one more competitor in there and it's not all about driving; there's a little bit of business behind it," he said. "If you think about it, it has to be about something else, otherwise they would have announced the driver in January in plenty of time before the first test. They know that is not optimal for the preparation for Melbourne but I think (team boss) Vijay (Mallya)'s behind it and he tries to make the decision as quick as possible. "I don't know why it's such a waiting period at the moment. Some say it's probably an engine deal for 2014, maybe there's an offer from Ferrari - I don't really know." Convicted in January 2012 of assaulting Eric Lux, CEO of Genii Capital (owners of the Lotus F1 team), in a Shanghai nightclub after the previous year's Chinese Grand Prix, Sutil was handed an 18-month suspended prison sentence and fined €200,000. There have been question marks about whether his criminal record might bar entry to certain countries on the F1 calendar but Sutil said he would be free to travel. "Travelling is not a problem, it's all sorted. So it's really about their [the team's] decision. Today they've seen I'm able to drive the car still," he said. Sutil admitted that the late invitation to test had necessarily limited his preparations. But with less than four weeks to go now before the first race of the season, he was confident he would be in better shape if the call comes to race. "Tomorrow I may have a little bit of pain or so but it's okay," the 30-year-old added. "I prepared myself of course but the call for the test was quite late so better preparation would have helped. "But I was working on my physical condition in the last couple of months. You never know: during the last season I was always expecting someone maybe dropping out and I would get the drive. I've got quite a lot of time for training but it's always different to go in a car."