Tales from the paddock: Title wins in Barcelona and a return to Suzuka

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The Formula One teams and drivers now proceed directly from #singapore to Suzuka. In the meantime, Mercedes-AMG is celebrating multiple Championship Titles secured in #barcelona.

• This is what happened: Results and facts
• News from the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport teams

This is what happened: Results and facts

• F1: Lewis Hamilton and #georgerussell finish the #singapore GP in P9 and P14 respectively
• GT World Challenge:AKKODIS ASP wrap up Team and Drivers' Titles in Endurance Cup
• IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge:Runner-up spot for the Mercedes-AMG GT4 at Road Atlanta
• Super GT:Top Three finish for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 at Autopolis International #racing Course
• GTC Race:Three races at Hockenheim produce four podiums for Mercedes-AMG GT3

News snippets

Problematic night race in #singapore: F1 returned to #singapore at the weekend after last being contested there in 2019. The 13th #singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit was not the happiest of occasions for the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS #f1 Team. After an encouraging start to the weekend on Friday, Saturday brought mixed results. While #lewishamilton managed to book P3 - his best grid position so far this season and 0.054 off pole - brake problems held #georgerussell back from pushing his car to the limit, and he had to settle for grid position 11 in Q2. The team opted to change his PU after reliability concerns, obliging  George to start the race from the pit lane, and he eventually crossed the line in P14 after a race punctuated by multiple safety car deployments. The team took a gamble in the rain of making an early change of George's tyres to slicks, but unfortunately the switch didn't pay off - a glancing collision with Mick Schumacher towards the end of the race cost him his last chance of securing a potential points finish. In challenging track conditions, Lewis remained in contention for a podium finish until he had a lock-up and damaged his front wing, necessitating a change of nosecone. The pit stop cost him a lot of time and several positions, with the result that he finished the Grand Prix in P9.

Suzuka, here we come:With only a few days in which to relocate all their equipment to Suzuka, the team is in action again next weekend. As with the race in #singapore, the Japanese Grand Prix is being held for the first time since the 2019 campaign. This will be the 36th GP in the 'Land of the Rising Sun' and the 32nd hosted by Suzuka (which many of the #f1 pros rate their favourite circuit). Michael Schumacher has registered more victories here than any other driver (six), followed by #lewishamilton on five and Sebastian Vettel on four. #japan has been a happy hunting ground for the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS #f1 Team in the hybrid era; in fact, the team won every race staged at Suzuka between 2014 and 2019. Four wins went to Lewis, with one each going to Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas. This year's Japanese Grand Prix features the new generation of cars that made their debut this season. In terms of team wins, McLaren lead the way with a tally of nine, followed by Ferrari (seven) and Mercedes (six). Mercedes is the most successful engine manufacturer in #japan with eleven victories, closely followed by Renault on ten. The fastest race lap was clocked by Lewis in a time of 1:30.983 minutes in 2019; the absolute lap record of 1:27.064 minutes was set by Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) in the same year.

An abundance of titles at the #gtworldchallenge Europe season finale:On the final weekend of the Fanatec #gtworldchallenge Europe Powered by AWS Endurance Cup at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the Mercedes-AMG Customer #racing teams lifted multiple championship trophies. P5 overall in the last three-hour race of the campaign was enough to secure the Endurance Cup drivers' title for Jules Gounon (FRA), Daniel Juncadella (ESP) and Raffaele Marciello (SUI) in the #88 Mercedes-AMG GT3 and the team title for Mercedes-AMG Team AKKODIS ASP. The combined overall classification from the Sprint and Endurance Cup categories of this top-class race series also went to AKKODIS ASP. In the overall drivers' classification, Raffaele Marciello had already been crowned champion. A third class win in the fifth race for Dominik Baumann (AUT), Ian Loggie (GBR) and Valentin Pierburg (GER) in the number 20 Mercedes-AMG GT3 wrapped up the Pro-Am team championship in the Endurance Cup for SPS #automotive performance. Baumann and Pierburg took the runner-up spot in the drivers' championship, with Ian Loggie close behind in fourth.

Three championship titles in the GT4 European Series:AKKODIS ASP celebrated no fewer than three championship titles in the GT4 European Series, a support series to the #gtworldchallenge Europe. In the Pro-Am classification, the French driver duo of Jean-Luc Beaubelique and Jim Pla in the number 87 Mercedes-AMG GT4 clinched both the drivers' and the team championship. AKKODIS ASP also ran out winners in the Am class. In a dramatic finale, the NM #racing Team pairing of Lluc Ibañez (ESP) and Enzo Joulié (FRA) narrowly missed out on the Silver Cup title, finishing the season as runners-up in this class.

Team Korthoff Motorsports round off the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season in third place:Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta did the usual honours of hosting the final weekend of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. In the ten-hour championship decider, Stevan McAleer (GBR), Dirk Müller (GER) and Mike Skeen (USA) driving the number 32 Mercedes-AMG GT3 finished sixth in the GTD class, thereby sealing a P3 overall in the GTD team standings for Korthoff Motorsports. The result also meant that Stevan McAleer came third in the drivers' championship. Sharing the cockpit of the number 79 Mercedes-AMG GT3, the WeatherTech #racing trio of Maximilian Buhk, Maximilian Götz (both GER) and Mikaël Grenier (CAN) finished the final race of the season sixth in the GTD-Pro class.

Manufacturers' and Bronze titles in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge:Also at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Trevor Andrusko and Mike Skeen (both USA) in the #55 Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Team FCP Euro by Ricca Autosport finished second in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. Two further Top Ten finishes from Riley Motorsports (#21) and Murillo #racing (#56), contributed to Mercedes-AMG securing the manufacturers' title in this highly competitive GT4 series. Eric Foss (USA) and his Murillo #racing team ended the 2022 season as runners-up. In the newly inaugurated Bronze classification, Gary Ferrera and Kris Wilson (both USA) simply blew the opposition away, claiming the championship with six class victories in ten races.

Podium finish in #supergt:In the Japanese #supergt at the #auto POLIS International #racing Course, Naoya Gamou and Takuro Shinohara (both JPN) in the #65 LEON #racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 achieved their best result of the season so far with a P3 finish.

Five GTC Race titles for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport:Carrie Schreiner (GER) is the new title winner in the PRO classification of the Endurance Championship GT60 powered by Pirelli forming part of the GTC Race series. Driving the #65 Mercedes-AMG GT3, she took sixth place in class in the final race at the Hockenheimring, which was enough for her to win this particular championship. Meanwhile, Heiko Neumann and Timo Rumpfkeil (both GER) were taking the title in the AM endurance classification.

Team CV Performance Group also celebrated a successful conclusion to the GTC Race season, enjoying three class victories and three title wins. Sharing the cockpit of the #85 Mercedes-AMG GT4, Philippe Denes (USA) and Julian Hanses (GER) drove to class victory in the first sprint race and in the endurance race. Their team-mate Nico Gruber (GER) in the #84 sister car won the second sprint race. This set of results was enough for Julian Hanses to secure the drivers' title in both the Sprint and Endurance classifications. CV Performance Group came away with the GTC Race GT4 class team championship trophy.

GT3 success at the Marina Bay Circuit:Three Mercedes-AMG GT3s were in action in the supporting programme of the Formula 1 #singapore Grand Prix. In the Thailand Super Series, which was hosted by the Marina Bay Circuit, the #159 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of YK Motorsports Billionaire Boy By Sunoco driven by Kantasak Kusiri (THA) took victory in the second race of the weekend. Kusiri had already made a podium appearance for a P3 finish in the first race, where he joined runner-up Darryl O'Young driving the #99 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Craft-Bamboo #racing.