While Formula One was making motorsport history at the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, Mercedes-AMG were celebrating overall victory in the ‘dress rehearsal’ for the 24-hour endurance race at the Nürburgring.
- This is what happened: Results and facts
- News from the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport teams
This is what happened: Results and facts
- F1: George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finish fifth and sixth in the Miami Grand Prix
- ADAC 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers: Maro Engel, Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella third on Saturday; Adam Christodoulou, Maximilian Götz and Fabian Schiller winners on Sunday
News snippets
Debut in Miami: Last weekend, F1 visited Miami for the first time in the history of the series. The inaugural Miami Grand Prix at the Miami International Autodrome provided plenty of talking points on and off the track. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team left Florida with the maximum possible points haul, given the current state of play. After starting from way down on the grid, George Russell gained seven places to finish fifth with a strong fightback and also a bit of luck with the timing of a safety car. He was closely followed by his team-mate Lewis in sixth. The seven-time World Champion was again unfortunate with the safety car and, in a thrilling final sprint on older Hard tyres, he had to yield to his faster team-mate on fresher Mediums. From Miami, the premier class returns to Europe, where the next stop on the itinerary is the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on the weekend of 20 ‑ 22 May.
Berlin, here we come: The fifth fixture on the 2022 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship racing calendar takes the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team to its home race in Berlin next weekend. In fact, it will be another double-header like the previous events hosted earlier this season by Diriyah and Rome. The track at Tempelhof Airport has been a happy hunting ground for the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team so far: at the season finale in Berlin in Season 7, Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries claimed the team’s first Formula E one-two win, and a year later at the same venue, Mercedes-EQ became the first all-electric double World Champions, wrapping up both the Drivers’ and Team World Titles. This year, Stoffel travels to Berlin first in the Drivers’ Standings, while the team leads the Constructors’ Championship. As was the case last year, Season 8 will feature two different track variations: Saturday’s race will be run on the traditional counter-clockwise layout, while on Sunday the direction of travel will be reversed.
Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed win 24h Nürburgring dress rehearsal: The 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers were staged last weekend as the final test of strength before the ADAC TotalEnergies 24h Nürburgring (26 – 29 May). Mercedes-AMG teams Bilstein (#6, #12), GetSpeed (#3, #4) and Landgraf (#55) sent their first-choice driver line-ups into action. Two Customer Sports outfits in the shape of CP Racing (#21) and Schnitzelalm Racing (#34) also took the opportunity to identify the optimum setup for the 50th running of the Nordschleife classic.
In the first of two three-hour qualifying races, Maro Engel (GER), Jules Gounon (FRA) and Daniel Juncadella (ESP) secured a podium spot. The Mercedes-AMG pros sharing the cockpit of the number 4 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 mastered the difficult weather conditions in the Eifel and advanced from sixth on the grid to third place. The #55 of Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf and the #34 of Schnitzelalm Racing delivered a double podium in the Pro-Am class with second and third place in Saturday’s race.
In Sunday’s somewhat chaotic race, the Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed number 3 sister car went one better, taking overall victory. After starting from twelfth place, the trio of Adam Christodoulou (GBR), Maximilian Götz and Fabian Schiller (both GER) mounted an impressive charge through the field and also took a well-timed early pit stop to move up to third place at the end of the first hour. They then proceeded to post consistently fast lap times and, thanks to flawless performance by the entire team, brought home the overall victory. Schnitzelalm Racing once again enjoyed a Pro-Am podium, this time for second place. Marek Böckmann, Kenneth Heyer (both GER), Yannick Mettler (SUI) and Johannes Stengel (GER) in the number 34 GT3 finished tenth overall.
Class podium for ABBA Racing in the Silverstone 500: In the third round of the British GT Championship at Silverstone, Richard and Sam Neary (both GBR) in the number 8 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of ABBA Racing took a podium in the Silver-Am classification. Despite falling back after an early incident on lap one, the father-son duo then proceeded to work their way through the pack to finish the three-hour race in fifth place overall and second in their class. Of six Mercedes-AMG GT3s competing in the Silverstone 500 endurance race, five finished in the Top Ten of their respective classifications. The British GT returns to Donington Park on the weekend of 28 – 29 May.
Runner-up spot for Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing at Pukehoke Park Raceway: The season opener of the New Zealand North Island Endurance Series took place at Pukehoke Park Raceway on Sunday. Having started the three-hour race from fifth position, Anthony and Paul Pedersen (both NZL) in the number 96 Mach One Engineering Mercedes-AMG GT3 produced an impressive performance to secure the runner-up spot, just 1.6 seconds behind the leader. The next round will be contested in Taupo on 27/28 May.
