Tales from the paddock: The heat is on!

The 2021 season is about to enter the home straight: Start of the decisive phase for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas #f1 Team and the Mercedes-AMG Customer #racing teams

• This is what happened: Results and facts
• News from the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport teams
• Social media news: What’s new online?

This is what happened: Results and facts

• F1: Lewis Hamilton finishes second in the US Grand Prix
• ADAC GT Masters: Double podium for Mercedes-AMG GT3 in Sunday’s race at Hockenheim
• ADAC GT4 Germany: P2 for Mercedes-AMG GT4 on Saturday at Hockenheim
• International GT Open: Mercedes-AMG GT3 one-two in the first race in Barcelona

News snippets

Facts & figures from Austin: Formula One returned to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin last weekend to a fantastic reception from the crowd. Lewis Hamilton finished the 17th round of the season in second place, just behind winner Max Verstappen, after a thrilling chase to the chequered flag. His team-mate Valtteri Bottas clawed his way up from ninth to sixth after a grid penalty for a change of his Internal Combustion Engine (ICE). Lewis also set the fastest lap of the race in a time of 1:38.485 minutes, earning him an additional point. In the Drivers’

World Championship, Lewis is currently twelve points adrift of leader Max Verstappen. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas #f1 Team continues to lead the Constructors’ World Championship, but its lead was cut to 23 points in Austin. Both championships remain completely open going into the remaining five rounds of the season. The next #event on the calendar will be hosted by Mexico City on the weekend of 5 - 7 November.

Double podium at Hockenheimring keeps GT Masters title chances alive: Mercedes-AMG Motorsport claimed two podiums and three further Top Ten finishes on the penultimate weekend of the #adacgtmasters season at the Hockenheimring. Sunday was particularly successful for the three Customer #racing teams. In the second of the two 60-minute races, Maro Engel and Luca Stolz (both GER) in the number 22 car fielded by Mercedes-AMG Team Toksport WRT booked a solid third place. Having already finished fourth the day before, the duo are now well-placed in the title race, just four points behind the leaders ahead of the season finale in a fortnight’s time.

The best result of the weekend was achieved by Maximilian Buhk (GER) and Raffaele Marciello (ITA) of MANN-FILTER Team LANDGRAF. The pairing drove their number 70 Mercedes-AMG GT3 to second place on Sunday and are still in with a mathematical chance of taking the title.

Team Zakspeed Mobil Krankenkasse #racing also produced good results on both race days. Jules Gounon (FRA) and Igor Walilko (POL) mounted a strong charge through the field from 18th on Saturday’s grid to steer their number 13 Mercedes-AMG GT3 into the Top Ten. They followed this up on Sunday with a P5. These promising results boost their confidence for the GT Masters season finale, which will be held at the Nürburgring on the weekend of 5 - 7 November.

Team Zakspeed Mobil Krankenkasse #racing go into the last two races of the 2021 GT Masters vying with Mercedes-AMG Team Toksport WRT and MANN-FILTER Team LANDGRAF - HTP/WWR for the title.

Podium and two further Top Ten results in the #adacgt4germany: Mercedes-AMG Motorsport also delivered a respectable set of results in the #adacgt4germany, which was contested as part of the #adacgtmasters programme at the Hockenheimring last weekend. The most successful of the Mercedes-AMG GT4 contingent was the number 13 Zakspeed driven by Jan Marschalkowski (GER) and Théo Nouet (FRA) who managed a top finish on both days thanks to a strong fightback. In Saturday’s race they worked their way up from sixth to second place, following this up on Sunday with a remarkable eighth place despite starting way back in 21st. Leipert Motorsport can also feel satisfied with a solid weekend on which Marc de Fulgencio (ESP) and Robin Falkenbach (GER) in the number 7 Mercedes-AMG GT4 finished a strong fourth in the first race.

Before the final stop on the itinerary at the Nürburgring, our Customer #racing teams are still in contention for various titles. In the Drivers’ Championship, Marschalkowski and Nouet have a realistic chance of lifting the trophy, while Zakspeed are intent on defending their current top spot through to the end.

19-year-old Nouet will also contest the season finale as favourite in the Junior Trophy. The talented youngster travels to the Eifel with a reassuring cushion of 25 points and is determined to see this one through to the finish.

Successful conclusion to the #internationalgtopen: There were multiple successes to celebrate in the final round of the #internationalgtopen last weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Martin Kodrić (CRO) and Ethan Simioni (CAN) in the number 9 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of 2 Seas Motorsport took overall victory in Saturday’s 70-minute race and then rounded off a strong weekend with fifth place in their class. The AKKA ASP team joined the podium party after both races. On Saturday, second-place Thomas Drouet and Jim Pla (both FRA) in the #87 Mercedes-AMG GT3 made it a Mercedes-AMG one-two, and in Sunday’s one-hour session, they finished third in the Pro class.

Meanwhile, Daniel Díaz-Varela and Jaume Font (both ESP) in the #93 Baporo Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 were blowing away the opposition in the Am class, claiming victory on both Saturday and Sunday. The number 9 AKM Motorsport driven by Florian Scholze (GER) and Loris Spinelli (ITA) finished fourth overall and first in the Pro-Am class on Saturday. With a one-two and three further class wins, our Customer #racing teams signed off in style from this year’s #internationalgtopen.

Scholze, who only switched to the Pro-Am class mid-season, finishes the 2021 campaign as runner-up in the Am standings after his strong start with five class wins. He shares this position with Jens Liebhauser (GER) with whom he had teamed up for six rounds of the series.

The GT Cup Open Europe, which was held as part of the #internationalgtopen at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, was contested by a single Mercedes-AMG GT4 fielded by NM #racing Team and driven by Albert Estragués (ESP) and August MacBeth (USA). The #215 car took third place in the 70-minute race on Saturday and a class win in Sunday’s one-hour session.

Customer #racing Teams report class podiums and Top Ten finishes in Asia: Several Mercedes-AMG Customer #racing Teams were also in action in Asia last weekend. In the Super GT, which was held at the #auto Polis International #racing Course near Hita (Japan), no fewer than four Mercedes-AMG GT3s fielded by four different teams took to the grid. The best result in the 65-lap race was achieved by GOODSMILE #racing & TeamUKYO, with Tatsuya Kataoka and Nobuteru Taniguch (both JPN) in the number 4 GT3 finishing sixth after a strong recovery from 19th on the grid. Two places back in eighth were Naoya Gamou and Togo Suganami (both JPN) in the number 65 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of LEON #racing.

Liu Ran (CHN) in the number 33 Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Phantom Pro #racing contributed two class podiums in the China GT Championship, finishing second in each of the two 60-minute races at the Zhuhai International Circuit.