Daimler : Tales from the paddock – Another successful race weekend for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport

From Formula 1 to the Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia: Mercedes-AMG Motorsport posted excellent results around the world last weekend

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

This is what happened: Results and facts

• Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton wins the Spanish Grand Prix for the third consecutive year
• Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia: Manuel Metzger and MG Choi victorious in Race 1 at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand

News snippets

Spain GP - Stat-Attack: The race in Barcelona was the fifth of the season as well as the curtain-raiser for the European leg of the 2019 Formula 1. It was a memorable weekend for Mercedes. Dieter Zetsche, who was attending for the final time in his capacity as CEO, stepped out on the podium to accept the winner's trophy in the constructor's championship. Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas had made it five one-two wins out of five in the current campaign. It was also the fifth Mercedes victory on Spanish soil in the past six years. Lewis stood on the top spot of the podium for the seventy-sixth time in his career, for the third time this season and for the third consecutive time at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The five-time world champion now has a tally of four Grand Prix victories in Barcelona. In the process, he also clocked the fastest race lap in Spain for the fifth time, equalling his previous record for the Italian Grand Prix. In qualifying on Saturday, Valtteri had already completed a pole hat-trick, booking himself P1 on the grid for the third race in succession. It was the team's seventh consecutive pole in the Spanish Grand Prix.

Mercedes-AMG Motorsport retains top spot in the Blancpain GT Series: Mercedes-AMG Team BLACK FALCON successfully defended their championship lead in the Blancpain GT Series in the second round of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup at Silverstone. Yelmer Buurman (NED), Maro Engel and Luca Stolz (both GER) in the number 4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 mounted an impressive charge through the field to finish seventh. They go into the next race weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard (31st May - 1st June) still leading the overall standings. The situation ahead of the three-hour race was not very encouraging: after two red flags in the first of three qualifying sessions, the stewards decided to end the 15-minute session prematurely. The trio were consequently unable to complete a hot lap and were obliged to start from the rear section of the grid. The same fate befell the number 6 sister car, the number 43 entered by STRAKKA Racing and the number 88 of AKKA ASP. Maro Engel driving the first stint for BLACK FALCON worked his way up from 37th to 21st, handing over to Buurman who made further progress into the Top Ten with a perfectly timed pit stop. Luca Stolz completed the slick teamwork, bringing the Mercedes-AMG GT3 home in seventh. An even more impressive pursuit was staged by the crew of the number 43 car fielded by STRAKKA Racing: after starting from way back in 41st, Dev Gore (USA), Jack Hawksworth (GBR) and Lewis Williamson (GBR) finished the race in fifth position, which also made them the best placed of the Affalterbach contingent. Nico Bastian (GER), Timur Boguslavskiy (RUS) and Felipe Fraga (BRA) in the number 90 AKKA ASP defended their lead in the Silver Cup with third place in class and tenth overall. Tom Onslow-Cole (GBR) and Remon Vos (NED) in the number 74 car fielded by RAM Racing were victorious in the Pro-Am classification.

Overall and class wins in the Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia: In the second round of the Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia at Buriram in Thailand, MG Choi (KOR) and Manuel Metzger (GER) claimed a first overall victory of the season for Team Solite Indigo Racing. The two of them sharing a Mercedes-AMG GT3 started the first race on Saturday from seventh but made rapid positional gains supplemented by a clever tactical decision in the timing of their pit stop to put Metzger into a lead which he then hung on to through to the end. In the second race on Sunday, the duo finished fifth (third in class), despite the handicap of a 15-second longer pit stop for their victory the day before.

There was another win for Mercedes in the GT4 class on Saturday: after finishing second in the season opener, Frank Yu (HKG) and Jean-Marc Merlin (FRA) of Craft-Bamboo Racing were first across the line. They also made it onto the podium on Sunday in P3. Brian Lee (TWN) and Tony Fong Whai Shing (HKG) of GTO Racing with TTR also made two podium appearances for third on Saturday and second on Sunday.