- Belgian GP- FP2
'More to come' from Lotterer on debut
Andre Lotterer is pleased with how the first practice sessions of his Formula One debut went but says he expects to keep improving as the weekend continues in Belgium.
Lotterer was drafted in earlier this week to replace Kamui Kobayashi, on what looks likely to remain a one-race deal, but seemed to be immediately on the pace and even went quicker than team-mate Marcus Ericsson in FP1. Lotterer admits he still does not feel completely comfortable with the car yet but expects that to change.
"I think [Friday] ran pretty smoothly," Lotterer said. "I had to learn a lot in a short time and go step by step, find the driving style of the car, the tyres and handle the power. I'm still a bit behind on understanding all the functions but I'm getting there almost alright. I tried a few launches and things like this. In terms of speed I'm just building it up; the first session was only on the prime with not that much grip, I expected more speed through the corners.
"On the option we went out and I didn't know what to expect in terms of grip so I've just approached it step by step. I think there's more to come but I think I'm quite pleased with everything. I try to understand everything as much as possible. It doesn't look like I'm miles off so for the first time on the option tyres it was ok."
When asked whether Lotterer will do follow-up work for Caterham in the simulator next week, the German said: "At the moment it's just the race, I don't know what happens after. I try to approach it day by day, it was a good first day today and hopefully it will be the same tomorrow and Sunday."
Lotterer admits he approached Eau Rouge tentatively at the beginning of his debut but hopes to take it as normal on Saturday.
"Almost," he said when asked if he took it flat out. "I didn't want to try the first time on the option tyre without knowing what was going to happen! Obviously you only have one lap so you do slow, fast, slow, fast. On the second lap it wasn't far from flat. On the other side we started the day a little bit low on downforce so we learned that and will be increasing it again. Hopefully it's flat tomorrow."
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