'I spent 14 years in F1 but only raced for just one and a half laps'

Daily Mirror

29-04-2025

Andre Lotterer was eyeing F1 opportunities for 14 years before eventually getting his shot - but the one race he competed in at the Belgian Grand Prix lasted less than two laps
Andre Lotterer has made a name for himself in a number of motorsport formulas without ever cracking F1 despite being in and around the environment for 14 years. During that time though he would race on the grid for just over one lap.
Opportunities simply didn't come knocking for the German, whose stock is incredibly high depending on what type of car he sits in. He has enjoyed Super Formula and Super GT success and has recently been competitive in Formula E.
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Lotterer enjoyed a strong junior career, which certainly put him in the shop window. Helmut Marko even had a look at him in the late 1990s but the first sniff of F1 came in 2000 with Jaguar when he was among those being allowed to test the car on almost a weekly basis.
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It looked as if his moment was going to come in a Monza test when Lotterer stood in for an Eddie Irvine, who was unwell, and performed strongly. He impressed the team with his pace and technical feedback, but then senior figures changed and those backing him were gone.
He told The Race: "Things were not looking bad at all. But then the management completely changed and Niki Lauda came in and it seemed that the people who were supporting me were either gone or focusing on other things. I was just not in the right place at the right time I guess."
And so Lotterer's wait went on, but the opportunities were drying up. He admits he wishes he'd pushed to see what options were available when he was on his A-game. "I kind of regret I didn't push more when things were good to maybe have an opportunity elsewhere," he said.
Sauber showed interest and a test was booked but Felipe Massa, before his Ferrari days, went down beforehand and greatly impressed. Lotterer's manager cancelled the test, fearful that failing to match Massa's pace would reflect badly, and so the German headed to IndyCar and then Japan, where he's enjoyed the bulk of his success.
Several drivers in the past, the likes of Irvine and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, had used Japanese success as a route into F1. Lotterer race with Nakajima and attempted to get an agreement in place that a championship success would grant him a shot with Honda.
Instead a shock call came in 2014 from Caterham, owing to the recommendation of his first endurance racing boss Colin Kolles, who was in charge of the team. Lotterer's opportunity would come at the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa, racing for a team that were struggling on the off the track.
He was never expected to match the pace of Kamui Kobayashi, for whom he was filling in for. Despite those expectations he would out qualify Marcus Ericsson by almost a second in a wet session. On the Sunday Lotterer would race for just seven miles. "I went over the exit kerb a bit at Blanchimont on lap two and some fuse popped out and that was it," he said.