While Formula 1 awakens from its summer slumbers, Mercedes-AMG Motorsport has been picking up further trophies all around the world.

This is what happened: Results and facts

News snippets

Spa, here we come: As has now become traditional, the second half of the Formula 1 season gets underway with the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. The team has so far won four times on the Ardennes rollercoaster. The first of the four winners’ trophies was lifted by the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1955 season. Between 2015 and 2017, Lewis Hamilton (twice) and Nico Rosberg added three further triumphs on the forest circuit. In all, there have been ten wins for cars powered by Mercedes engines at Spa. Lewis is the most successful qualifier here with five pole positions, three of which he converted into wins. Since 1950, the race has featured on the Formula 1 calendar 63 times. Most of the races (51) took place at Spa-Francorchamps, but Zolder (10) and Nivelles (2) have also hosted the event in the past. You can see how the team spent the summer break on our none-too-serious summer playlist: http://mb4.me/85vv09vA

Podium success and three class victories in the Suzuka 10-hour race: Mercedes-AMG Motorsport further extended its successful Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC) run in the endurance classic at Suzuka. Acquitting themselves particularly well were the Mercedes-AMG Team GroupM Racing driver trio of Maximilian Buhk, Maro Engel (both GER) and Raffaele Marciello (ITA) in the number 999 car. They finished second overall and also secured the Spa Suzuka Award for the longest distance covered in the two IGTC endurance races. The performance and sports car brand from Affalterbach was therefore feted on the podium for the fourth time in the fourth IGTC race of the year. Yelmer Buurmann (NED), Maximilian Götz and Luca Stolz (both GER) in the number 77 car fielded by Mercedes-AMG Team Craft-Bamboo Racing missed out on a podium by only a few seconds in fourth but nonetheless amassed valuable points towards the championship. Also scoring points on the day were Strakka Racing (#44) and Goodsmile Racing (#00) who finished ninth and tenth respectively, thereby contributing to an impressive Top Ten result for the brand. In addition, Goodsmile Racing were handed the Super GT Award for the best team in this racing series. Complementing the achievement of the AMG works teams were the three Customer Racing teams who also delivered impressive performances, each of which was crowned with a class victory. Nico Bastian (GER), Mikaël Grenier (CAN) and Kenny Habul (AUS) of SunEnergy1 Racing (#75) won the Silver Cup, while Dominik Baumann (AUT), Adrian Henry D’Silva (MAS) and Christina Nielsen (DEN) of Team Strakka Racing (#43) took first place in the Pro-Am class. The third of three class wins went to Norio Kubo, Atsushi Sato and Ryosei Yamashita (all JPN) of SATO-SS SPORTS (#112), who were victorious in the Am category after ten hours of racing and were also honoured as the best team in the Super Taikyu Series.

Thanks to the strong team performance, Mercedes-AMG Motorsport was able to defend its lead in the manufacturers’ championship and now tops the table by a margin of 22 points. Furthermore, the Mercedes-AMG crew of Buhk, Marciello and Götz currently monopolise the Top Three positions of the drivers’ standings. With just one race remaining, namely the Kyalami 9 Hour (21st ‑ 23rd November), Mercedes-AMG has the clearest chance of finishing top in both championships at the end of the campaign.

First IMSA GTD win of the season at the Virginia International Raceway: Jeroen Bleekemolen (NED) and Ben Keating (USA) of Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports (#33) celebrated their first victory of the season in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. After 160 minutes of racing at the Virginia International Raceway in Alton (USA), the duo finished first in the GTD classification to score vital championship points. Keating took the first stint and gained several positions before handing the Mercedes-AMG GT3 over to Bleekemolen in a promising P3. The Dutchman then overtook two opponents in an exciting final stint to claim first place at the finish line, 0.566 seconds ahead of the runner-up. In the second of two Mercedes-AMG GT3s, the number 74 fielded by Lone Star Racing, Lawson Aschenbach and Gar Robinson (both USA) came eighth.

The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge was also taking place as a parallel event on the Virginia International Raceway. The best result for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport was a P4 secured by the TGM pairing of Hugh Plumb and Owen Trinkler (both USA) in the number 46 Mercedes-AMG GT4. Winward Racing / HTP Motorsport (#33, seventh place) and Team TGM (#4, eighth place) meanwhile ensured that Mercedes-AMG had further representation in the Top Ten at the end of the two-hour contest. The strong team result is also reflected in the situation at the top of the championship: after ten races, Mercedes-AMG continues to lead the manufacturers' classification in the series.

Overall victory, class successes and multiple podiums in Russia, Slovakia and the Netherlands: Vitaly Petrov and Denis Remenyako (both RUS) of Capital Racing Team have won the Russian Endurance Challenge. In the four-hour contest at the Moscow Raceway, the duo in the number 13 Mercedes-AMG GT3 prevailed over all-comers.

Meanwhile, Josef Klüber (GER) in the number 18 Mercedes-AMG GT3 made two podium appearances in the Special Touring Car Trophy (STT) hosted by Assen in the Netherlands last weekend. The équipe vitesse driver finished third in the first race of the weekend, and then went one better the following day, taking the runner-up spot.

Mercedes-AMG can look back on three successful races in the ESET V4 Cup staged at the Slovakia Ring. The weekend got off to great start, with Libor Milota of GT2 Motorsport (#2) finishing third in his class in the first Saturday race and achieving a Top Three result in the second race with third place overall (P2 in class). He was followed across the line in Race 2 by the number 5 Olimp Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 driven by Stanislaw Jedlinski and Mateusz Lisowski (both POL). In the Sunday race, it was the turn of Stefan Rosina (SVK) in the number 707 car fielded by Auto Centrum Bratislava to take a class win and third place overall. Milota rounded off an all-round successful weekend for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport with P3 in class.

Social Media News

#W125: How does it feel to sit behind the wheel of a classic Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix racing car such as the 1912 W125? Valtteri Bottas can tell you...

Watch video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0Dj0CVM3mM

#Esports: F1 Esports is back! And contesting the series are our three gamers Brendon Leigh, Patryk Krutyj and Daniel Shields. They are more than ready this season to compete with the best in F1 Esports.

Watch video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw9fuw191A4

#FESummerBreak: As the Formula 1 summer break comes to an end, the ABB FIA Formula E Championship cars must stay in their garages for a while longer. Nevertheless, the members of our team are already chafing at the bit ahead of their debut in season six...

Watch video 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp6NG5OTYIs

Watch video 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhuURMg7_9Q

#IntGTC / #MercedesAMGMotorsport: Thrilling wheel-to-wheel action, a great atmosphere and major achievements for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport - the highlights from the Suzuka 10-hour race.