Sutil hailed as the 'hero' of Monaco

Sutil looked on course for a sensational fourth-placed finish on the streets of Monte Carlo when he was forced out of the race after being hit from behind by Kimi Raikkonen just a few laps from home.

And although he and several team members were reduced to tears by the heartbreak of the incident, Kolles has no doubts that Sutil's performance was the star show of the afternoon.

"After the race he was in tears," Kolles told autosport.com. "But it was not only him (crying), there were a lot of people. I told him: 'You are the hero of the race'. That's my opinion and I think people will recognise this."

Sutil's performance in Monaco could not have come at a better time, with questions being asked about the German's abilities after a difficult start to the season.

However, Kolles insists the team never had any concerns about Sutil's performances in the first few races.

"Adrian started the season a little bit of a difficult way," explained Kolles. "But he had always had the backing of the team and me personally, so there was no uncertainty.

"We knew that he had to catch up in certain things and he built it up. And Monaco is one of his favourite tracks, so if the conditions were right then something special could happen. And we were very, very close to something special."

When asked if he felt that the Monaco performance could act as a spring board to improved results in the future, Kolles said: " Oh yes, for sure. Obviously we have to push for a better car. We cannot hope that every race will be wet.

"We still have Canada, which could be a potentially good race, we have Spa, we have Fuji. There are some more races to come for sure and we hope we can have a better car."

And Kolles also refused to criticise Raikkonen for the crash - with the Ferrari driver having lost control of his car on the first lap after a safety car restart.

"I don't have to blame Kimi. He did a mistake, it's a race incident and there's nothing more to say. It's unfortunate that it was Kimi, who is a friend, and that it happened with him. But what can I say, that's life."