Lausitz: Mercedes race summary

Two Victories for Champion Lewis Hamilton

The French ASM team's Dallara Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who is already champion, has won the 17th and 18th rounds of the Formula 3 Euro Series at the Lausitzring. On Saturday, Hamilton won ahead of Giedo van der Garde (Dallara-Opel) and Sebastian Vettel (Dallara Mercedes). On Sunday, Dallara Mercedes drivers Paul di Resta, Adrian Sutil and Lucas di Grassi came home in positions two, three and four respectively. Hamilton had clinched the Formula 3 Euro Series Championship three weeks ago at Zandvoort. He leads now with 150 points ahead of his team mate Adrian Sutil, who claimed the runner-up position with 92 points. The drivers with the Mercedes-Benz Formula 3 engine M271 developed from the production engine of the C- and E-Class have won 16 out of the season's 18 races so far.

Result

Race 1: Starting second on the grid Sebastian Vettel at the wheel of a Mucke Motorsport Dallara Mercedes tried to hold off charging Hamilton who started third. After an exciting battle, Hamilton passed Vettel on lap eight and overtook leader and pole sitter Giedo van der Garde (Dallara-Opel) three laps later. After 20 laps on a drying track, Hamilton achieved an undisputed victory 8.410sec ahead of van der Garde. Vettel had another fight with Hamilton's team mate Adrian Sutil. This time, Vettel was successful and eventually came home third ahead of Sutil. Dallara Mercedes drivers Atila Abreu (Mucke Motorsport) in seventh place and Lucas di Grassi (Manor Motorsport) in eighth completed a good Mercedes-Benz team result. Hannes Neuhauser (HBR) came home ninth whilst di Grassi's team mate Paul di Resta retired after an off on lap three.

Race 2: Hamilton who had qualified second won the sprint to the first corner. Di Resta, for the third time this year on pole position, dropped to second. Sutil, fifth in qualifying, improved to third at the start ahead of di Grassi. Vettel, 15th on the grid, was hit by Paolo Montin (Dallara-Honda) on the first lap entering the back straight and dropped to the back of the field. He ended up 16th.

Lewis Hamilton (ASM): "Yesterday it was a tough race until I had passed Sebastian Vettel and Giedo van der Garde. Today it was easier; after I had taken the lead at the start I was able to control the race. It is an outstanding season and I want to thank everybody in the team for their great efforts."

Adrian Sutil (ASM): "I'm really happy about my runner-up position in the championship. This is the biggest success in my career so far. I thank my team for their great support."

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton on race wins 12 and 13 out of 18 races so far. Congratulations to Adrian Sutil on the runner-up position in the championship and to ASM on another almost perfect weekend. Our Formula 3 engine, developed from a mass production engine, is one part of this success. I thank our engine technicians in Stuttgart and at HWA who did a great job."

-mbm-