F1 double bill in Austria, successful weekend in British GT and GTC Race

• 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 and Valtteri Bottas secure double podium for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team at Spielberg
• British GT: Victory for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 at Silverstone
• GTC Race: Mercedes-AMG GT3 scoops three wins from three races at Oschersleben

News snippets

Double billing in Austria: Spielberg in the Austrian province of Steiermark (Styria) is currently playing host to F1 on two successive weekends. Last Sunday’s Styrian Grand Prix will be followed by the Austrian Grand Prix seven days later. In the first round of the double feature at the Red Bull Ring, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas both made it onto the podium for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team with a P2 and a P3. Lewis finished second for the 43rd time in his Formula One career. In doing so, he equalled Michael Schumacher’s record for the most runner-up spots in F1 history. Next weekend’s contest at the Red Bull Ring also concludes the first triple-header of the 2021 season. The Austrian Grand Prix (excluding the two races held under the name of the Styrian GP) has seen the team take five wins so far (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2020), the same number as Ferrari and one fewer than McLaren. Alain Prost is the most successful driver (three wins), followed by seven others who have each claimed two victories at Spielberg, Valtteri being one of them (2017, 2020). Lewis’s only victory in the Austrian GP came in the 2016 season, but he won the Styrian Grand Prix at the same venue last year. The absolute lap record also dates from the previous year, namely from the 2020 Austrian GP when Valtteri booked pole position with a time of 1:02.939 minutes. The fastest race lap at the Red Bull Ring was set by Carlos Sainz in a McLaren with a time of 1:05.619 minutes in the 2020 Styrian GP.

Maiden victory in British GT: The debut for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 of 2 Seas Motorsport in the British GT Championship at Silverstone could not have gone better, as Hunter Abbott (GBR) and Martin Kodric (CRO) completed a comfortable lights-to-flag victory. The number 14 Mercedes-AMG GT3 already laid down a marker in qualifying for the Silverstone 500, setting the best time of the field. The British-Croatian driver duo then went on to dominate the opposition in the three-hour race, pulling out a lead that extended to 25 seconds at one point. Driving the final stint of the 86 laps, Kodric eventually crossed the line 7.2 seconds ahead of the pack.

A class win for RAM Racing rounded off the weekend at the Silverstone Circuit. James Cottingham and Sam De Haan (both GBR) secured first place in the Silver-Am category with eighth overall in the number 69 Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Class wins and strong fightback in NLS 4: The Customer Racing teams took three class wins in the fourth round of the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS). Moritz Kranz (GER) and Janine Shoffner (USA) finished ninth overall in the number 9 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3, which was enough for victory in the SP9-Am class. For Shoffner, this was the tenth NLS class win of her motorsport career. BLACK FALCON Team TEXTAR took victory in the SP4T + SP8T class for the third time in a row this season. Mustafa Mehmet Kaya (TUR), Gabriele Piana (ITA) and Mike Stursberg (GER) in the #140 Mercedes-AMG GT4 were once again in a league of their own. Peter Posavac, Reinhold Renger and Luca-Sandro Trefz (all GER) in the number 150 car fielded by Schnitzelalm Racing made it a class one-two. Marek Böckmann, Marcel Marchewicz and Tim Neuser (all GER) in the #165 Schnitzelalm Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 came out on top in the SP10 class after a thrilling contest with their fiercest rivals. 

The best-placed of the Customer Racing contingent in the overall classification of the 52nd Adenau ADAC Rundstrecken Trophy was the number 2 Mercedes-AMG GT3 entered by GetSpeed which finished sixth. Starting from fourth on the grid, Kuba Giermaziak (POL) and Frank Kechele (GER) dropped back after a spin on the opening lap, but then mounted a heroic charge through the field. In the course of the race, the two worked their way back to the front and crossed the finish line in third place. However, a retrospective time penalty relegated the duo by three positions.

Top Five finish in IMSA Six Hours: At Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen, Alegra Motorsports recorded their best result of the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship so far. For much of the six-hour race at Watkins Glen, Michael de Quesada, Billy Johnson (both USA) and Daniel Morad (CAN) in the #28 Mercedes-AMG GT3 were in contention for a podium, but a prolonged yellow flag period thwarted their ambition, and they ultimately had to settle for fifth in the GTD class.   

Dominant season opener in the GTC Race: The GTC Race curtain-raiser at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben went like a dream for Team Space Drive Racing as they registered three wins from three races. Patrick Assenheimer and Tim Heinemann (both GER) secured victory in each of the two 30-minute sprint races. The #31 Mercedes-AMG GT3 equipped with steer-by-wire steering technology also took first place in the one-hour Goodyear 60 race. They were followed across the finish line by the Team MSW duo of Marvin Kirchhöfer and Heiko Neumann (both GER) to make it a Mercedes one-two. In the first of the two sprint races, the duo sharing the cockpit of the #630 also finished third on the podium. Denis Bulatov (RUS) and Leon Koslowski (GER) in the #4 Mercedes-AMG GT4 of East Side Motorsport contributed a GT4 class victory in the first sprint race.

Social Media News

#MyJobInF1: In the latest episode of our ‘My Job in F1’ series, we introduce Stephanie who is one of our two PETRONAS Trackside Fluid Engineers. In the video, she talks about the work she does for the team at the track over the course of a race weekend.

Watch video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixqkNuDvNyA