A highly successful week for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport – including Formula 1, Formula E and Customer Sport teams
This is what happened: Results and facts
- Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton wins the Spanish Grand Prix and is joined by Valtteri Bottas in a double podium for Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
- Formula E: Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries register the first one-two win for the Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team at the season finale in Berlin
- ADAC GT Masters: Maro Engel and Luca Stolz finish Race 1 at the Nürburgring in P2
- ADAC GT4 Germany: Julien Apothéloz and Luca-Sandro Trefz win the second race at the Nürburgring
- British GT Championship: Two Mercedes-AMG GT3s on the podium in Race 1 at Donington Park
News snippets
Facts and figures from Spain: The Spanish Grand Prix, which rounded off the second triple-header of the 2020 Formula 1 season last weekend, ended with a victory for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team. It was Grand Prix win number 88 for Lewis, his fourth of the current season and his fifth in Barcelona.
Only Michael Schumacher (six wins) has stood on the top spot of the podium in Spain on more occasions. Lewis’s P1 also brought him his 156th podium appearance in the premier class of motor racing – a new record for the number of Top Three finishes in F1 history. Valtteri Bottas’s third place was his 50th podium in Formula 1.
The team also passed a couple of significant milestones in Spain: the 23rd lap of the race was the 25,000th for the Mercedes factory team in Formula 1, and Saturday’s pole position was the 200th for a driver in a Mercedes-powered car.
Gratifying conclusion to the debut season: Season six of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship signed off last week with the two final rounds of the campaign at Berlin-Tempelhof. The 2019/20 season concluded with no fewer than six E-Prixs crammed into a short nine-day period. The Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team ended the campaign on a high: in the eleventh and final race of its debut season, the team recorded its first victory in the all-electric racing series, with Stoffel Vandoorne lifting the winner’s trophy. Stoffel’s team-mate Nyck de Vries took the chequered flag in second place to make it a first ever one-two win for the team in Formula E. For series rookie de Vries, it was also a maiden podium. With a total of four Top Three finishes and a championship points tally of 147, Mercedes-Benz EQ finished the season third in the team classification. Stoffel’s personal points score of 87 in his second year in the series put him in the drivers’ championship runner-up spot behind newly crowned champion António Félix da Costa.
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport pairing go further ahead in ADAC GT Masters: Maro Engel and Luca Stolz (both GER) extended their lead in the drivers’ championship of the ADAC GT Masters last weekend. After a win and a P2 in the season opener at the Lausitzring, the duo in the number 22 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Toksport WRT took second place at the Nürburgring on Saturday and added further points to their championship account with seventh place on Sunday. The Quiddelbach-based outfit also leads the team classification.
Other Customer Racing teams were also racking up the points in the two one-hour races on the historic circuit in the Eifel forest. Philip Ellis (GBR) and Raffaele Marciello (ITA) in the number 48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of KNAUS Team HTP-WINWARD finished both races in the Top Ten (P6 and P8). The number 47 sister car sporting the livery of MANN-FILTER Team HTP-WINWARD and driven by Indy Dontje (NED) and Maximilian Götz (GER) finished Sunday’s race in 14th place, also in the points. DLV Team Schütz Motorsport carried on where they left off in the Sunday race at the Lausitzring with a P9 finish for Marvin Dienst (GER) and Philipp Frommenwiler (SUI) on Saturday. And the fourth member of the Mercedes contingent – Team Zakspeed BKK Mobil Oil Racing – also had cause for satisfaction on Saturday: car 20 driven by Dorian Boccolacci (FRA) and Mick Wishofer (AUT) finished fifth, while car 21 driven by Jimmy Eriksson (SWE) and Daniel Keilwitz (GER) crossed the finish line in eleventh. Wishofer and Boccolacci contributed further points the following day. The ADAC GT Masters teams and drivers now take a short break from racing before returning to action at the Hockenheimring on the weekend of 18th – 20th September.
Victory in the ADAC GT4 Germany and 400th pole position in the history of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing: The opening weekend of the 2020 ADAC GT4 Germany at the Nürburgring gave Mercedes-AMG Motorsport two causes for celebration: Julien Apothéloz (FRA) and Luca-Sandro Trefz (GER) in the number 48 Mercedes-AMG GT4 of MANN-FILTER Team HTP-WINWARD won the second race after Marvin Dienst (GER) in the number 8 car of DLV Team Schütz Motorsport had booked pole position – the 400th for Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing since the programme was set up ten years ago. Unfortunately, Schütz Motorsport had to settle for P14 after Marcus Suabo (GER) spun off track in the second stint. The number 10 car fielded by Dupré Motorsport Engineering and driven by Christoph Dupré (GER) and Jacob Erlbacher (AUT) finished the race in fourth place. The best result for the AMG teams on Saturday was a P5 by Apothéloz and Trefz in the number 48 car. As a support series to the ADAC GT Masters, the ADAC GT4 Germany now also takes a break until the Hockenheimring weekend (18th – 20th September).
Podiums and class wins in the British GT Championship: Sam de Haan (GBR) and Patrick Kujala (FIN) of RAM Racing were on top form in the first race of the British GT Championship at Donington Park on Sunday. At the end of the two hours, their number 69 Mercedes-AMG GT3 crossed the line second in the general classification, which was enough to secure victory in the GT3S class. Yelmer Buurman (NED) and Ian Loggie (GBR) in the number 69 sister car joined them on the overall podium, and as runners-up in the GT3PA class. ABBA Racing’s Richard Neary and Sam Neary (both GBR) battled their way up from twelfth on the grid to sixth place overall and fourth place in the GT3PA class. In the following race over one hour, the number 69 was the highest-placed Mercedes-AMG GT3 in P8 overall. The fifth event of the year will be hosted by Brands Hatch on the weekend of 29th – 30th August.
Winning start to the China Endurance Championship for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 and GT4: The opening fixture of the 2020 China Endurance Championship resulted in a one-two win for Team Toro Racing. Davide Rizzo (ITA) and Eric Zang (CHN) in the number 108 Mercedes-AMG GT3 were first to take the chequered flag at the end of the allotted 2 hours and 30 minutes, followed by team-mates Ye Hongli and Xu Jia (both CHN) in the number 33 car. And there was no passing the Mercedes-AMG GT4 on Sunday either: Phantom Pro Racing celebrated a class win for their drivers Wang Hao and Chris Chia (both CHN), while the all-Chinese crew of Li Donghui, Yang Ruoyu and Lu Wei in the number 555 Mercedes-AMG GT4 of 300Plus Motorsport made it a second one-two result of the day. The Endurance Championship resumes on the weekend of 11th – 13th September at the Shanghai International Circuit.