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Lotterer leaves door open for future F1 outings

Audi World Endurance Championship driver Andre Lotterer has not ruled out one day returning to Formula 1, but insists it would only happen if he was approached by a competitive team.

Andre Lotterer, Caterham F1 Team

Andre Lotterer, Caterham F1 Team

XPB Images

Andre Lotterer, Caterham F1 Team on the grid
#7 Audi Sport Team Joest R18 e-tron quattro: Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer, Benoit Tréluyer
Andre Lotterer, Caterham CT05
Race winners: Benoit Tréluyer, Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer
Andre Lotterer, Caterham CT05
#7 Audi Sport Team Joest R18 e-tron quattro: Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer, Benoit Tréluyer

The three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner impressed on his F1 debut last year at the Belgian Grand Prix as a stand-in for Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi, outqualifying teammate Marcus Ericsson by almost a whole second before retiring early on in the race with an electrical problem.

Asked whether he would consider another one-off F1 outing in the future, Lotterer told Motorsport.com: “It depends with which team.

“With a backmarker team, I’d most likely say no, but if it was with a competitive team, for sure I’d be up for the challenge.”

The German added that a full-time switch from sportscars to F1 would only become a possibility if he was made a serious offer by a leading team.

“It would really have to be something big that was offered to me to leave Audi,” he said.

“I could have carried on [with Caterham] at Monza and Abu Dhabi, but I preferred to leave it as a one-off because I knew it wouldn’t lead to anything as I didn’t have any sponsors.”

Though his foray into the sport was an extremely brief one, Lotterer relished his experience as an F1 driver, saying: “It was the right stage of my career to do it.

“I felt ready for it, and because I was established, my career didn’t depend on that race – it was just for fun basically.

“I enjoyed the attention from the media; I was surprised at the buzz created by a Le Mans winner coming to F1 at 32 years of age. I got a lot of respect for it.”

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