F1: Jake Dennis might jump if Andretti offered him F1 seat, but not IndyCar

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Avalanche Andretti Formula E driver Jake Dennis says it would be a ‘serious decision’ for him to make if Michael Andretti wanted him to drive for their F1 team in the future, assuming the team gets accepted into F1.

The media (GIVEMESPORT) asked Dennis in Berlin whether the chance to potentially race for them in F1 had crossed his mind?

“It has, but I’m also quite realistic,” he said.

“I’m very happy where I’m at in Formula E. Andretti’s goals to move into F1 are very reasonable, and I think what they can achieve there in not so much the short term, but the long term is going to be impressive.

“They’ve got really good funding, and hopefully, they can work with someone to help them build a fast race car. Obviously, if something came about it would be a serious decision I’d have to make, but it wouldn’t be easy. I want to win races. I want to perform and I’m in a very stable place right now in Formula E and for the long term as well, so it wouldn’t be an easy decision.”

IndyCar does not impress him

“IndyCar doesn’t really interest me all that much, especially after the tests I did. I thought the car was okay, but I have even less interest [after that] and the ovals have always been a bit sketchy for me. I mean, I think if I drove the car, and was like ‘this is awesome,’ that would change things so from the outside looking in at the moment, I don’t really have a great deal of interest in doing it.

“I think what they do is incredible and I have full respect for them and I love watching the [Indy 500] but doing it? I’m alright! And I think as I get older, I’ll become less and less interested in it.”

Andretti Eyes American Drivers

Michael Andretti has already gone on record as wanting to pick American IndyCar driver Colton Herta as one of his two drivers.

He has been non-committal on the 2nd driver, and probably would want an experienced F1 driver in the 2nd seat.

The dilemma Andretti has is that Kyle Kirkwood (one of his other IndyCar drivers) is as fast, and may be even faster than Herta, but Herta has experience on the European circuits that Kirkwood does not have.

This is increasingly irrelevant as only 7 or 8 of the soon-to-be 25 races would be in Europe, where Herta raced as a teenager.

Herta and Kirkwood do not currently have enough F1 Superlicense points to qualify to race in F1 and need a top 1 or 2 finish in the IndyCar championship this year.