Lotterer's story: From no FE seat to a permanent spot

At 41, André Lotterer is among the oldest drivers in Formula E. The German did not miss a season in the electric class since 2017 and can rightly be counted as one of the most experienced drivers in the field. After coming out for Porsche for three years, Lotterer will race for Andretti's team in 2023. GPblog spoke to him about how he joined Andretti as a Porsche factory driver.

Lotterer is gearing up for his sixth Formula E season. What's so great about this class? "It’s a really good challenge and representing the races of the future. It’s a really good platform for manufacturers and professional drivers to race at the top level of motorsport. You find after F1, all the best drivers, if not even some drivers better than some F1 drivers, but we can’t all make it to F1 so it’s the second-best thing in terms of high-level motorsport."

Still Formula E

Asked about his motivation for swapping Porsche for Andretti, Lotterer said. “The story started a bit earlier by having to make a choice with my options. As you may know, I will be returning to endurance racing in the WEC with Porsche. Porsche asked me what I wanted to do. It was a really difficult choice because I wanted to do both but it was not possible from a Porsche perspective."

With that, Lotterer seemed to have to say goodbye to Formula E, but as a deal was struck between Andretti and Porsche as engine supplier, it turned out there was an opening after all. "Then this came together so I was able to continue my Formula E career which I am still very much motivated for. And it’s great for me to be able to join the Andretti team and contribute with the Porsche experience," he states.

That Porsche did not want Lotterer to be its factory driver in both the WEC and Formula E has a reason Lotterer can understand. "Maybe it would work for one driver, but then it’s not fair for my teammate. If they allow it for one driver, they have to allow it for both. Then it’s quite a lot of [work] load when you’re working for a works team and you’re involved in the development and more simulator then when you are part of a customer team where you have a bit less [work] load. So in that constellation things work out. But if you’re involved in both projects as a works driver in development there are too many clashes in the background with simulator and testing days and if you treat both drivers equally and let two Porsche drivers do both championships, then sometimes you end up with no one."

Gen3 cars challenging

Lotterer has now completed the first kilometres with the 2023 cars, which are quite different from the previous generation of bolides. "It's interesting. Everything is new. You have to have a complete new approach compared to Gen 2. The biggest difference are the tyres, they have a lot less grip. That makes our life quite difficult to control the car and play at the limit. That was the main challenge. You feel more power which is fun, on the straight lines the car is quick. You feel the instant torque and acceleration is quite something," the Andretti driver stated.

Driving the new cars is more difficult than in previous years, explains the number 12 of the 2022 Formula E championship. "It’s not easy to drive, more difficult to drive than Gen 2 because of the tyres mainly. We are braking with the recoup on the motors so you don’t need to worry about brake temperatures or bad set of brakes. Everything is software driven which is interesting. You don’t know what to expect when it’s a new car at the first race. Testing showed a few results but the track is not really representative. Let’s see how things are here [in the Mexican ePrix]."

Lotterer's 2023 goal

Lotterer has taken his engineers with him to his new employer. "I have and I was bringing my engineers so hopefully, this will help the team to move things in the right way. Looking forward to this new challenge with a very successful team. They have shown really great potential." The goal in 2023? "I would like to win my first race, pushing hard for that. Would be nice to average around 10-13 points per race. That would be ideal. The Formula E championship is very wild, it’s not easy to score points consistently. That’s the main challenge to be really consistent."