German driver André Lotterer says he is pleased with the result of his first two Free Practice (FP) sessions on debut with Caterham.
After FP1 Lotterer was ahead of his teammate Marcus Ericsson in P21, with a time of 1:57.886. Lotterer finished slowest of all in P20 after FP2 with a fastest lap of 1:54.093, just one position and .043 seconds behind teammate Ericsson.
“I’m very pleased with today. This morning’s first practice was a good session for me; I got used to the car quite quickly and now I just need to optimise everything in terms of driving style.” said Lotterer.
“Considering it was my first time out, it all went according to plan and I was able to get a good feel of what it’s like to drive the car. Now we need to keep working like this and continue improving the car.
“FP2 was another good session and everything went smoothly even though we had to stop a little bit early due to a technical problem. It’s definitely been another learning process for me on the option tyre – I went out and I didn’t know what to expect, but I think it went very well. “
At 32, exactly double the age of next year’s 16-year old Torro Rosso rookie Max Verstappen, Lotterer was a surprise announcement to replace Kamui Kobayashi for the Belgian Grand Prix
While there is much speculation as to the real reasons Caterham replaced Kobayashi for the Belgian Grand Prix, the official team line is that they are looking to use Lotterer’s feedback to gain a new perspective to inform future development and performance. Team Principal Christian Albers feels that the move is already reaping the rewards of the surprise move.
“Today we’ve made progress and this is what we intend to do during the rest of the season,” said Albers following FP2.
“Having André in the car is definitely helping us, he has done an extraordinary job on his first day driving for us.”
Regardless of the reasons behind Lotterer’s ascension to an F1 seat or any hypothetical musings as to whether or not Kobayashi could have posted a faster time, Lotterer proved he is well within his element behind the wheel of an F1 car at Spa.
If he can maintain his performance through to the chequered flag on Sunday, it will make for an impressive F1 debut for the three-time Le Mans winner.
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