André Lotterer was surprised by the performance of the Caterham CT05, but probably not for the reasons Caterham would like.
The German was drafted in to replace Kamui Kobayashi for the Belgian race weekend in a bid to push development of the car.
His first taste came on Friday during first and second practice, but his initial reaction was to make a comparison with his series-leading Audi LMP1 car which he says can corner harder.
“There is a lot more power [in the F1 car] – it would be nice to have that much power in an LMP1 car – but then in the corners it is the opposite,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“I think our Michelin tyres are a bit better, we can push them much harder and do over 700km on one set of tyres and [the car has] more downforce as well so you can push an LMP1 a bit more in the corners.
“So that was the surprising thing, but we did come a bit low on downforce here so I expect the car to become better. But you do have to restrict yourself and apply yourself a lot.”
Lotterer is missing a Formula Nippon event in Japan in order to race in F1 despite being in contention for the Nippon title, but he says the opportunity was too good to pass on.
“Three weeks ago I got a phone call from the team and then I had a bit of a dilemma,” he explained. “Doing a Formula 1 race is something I’ve always wanted to do and the opportunity came.
“For sure it is a big challenge to come in like this and get up to speed and learn everything, but I don’t have much to lose, it is a good opportunity and my career doesn’t depend on this race so I’m pretty relaxed.”
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