Nico took his third win of the 2015 season and the 11th of his Formula One career to date at the 2015 Austrian Grand Prix.  Teammate Lewis Hamilton completed a Silver Arrows 1-2 for the second consecutive time this season in Spielberg with a P2 finish.  Felipe Massa and Williams made it an all Mercedes-Benz powered podium in P3.  Hamilton is now leading Nico by 10 points in the Driver’s Championship, with MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS heading Ferrari by 136 in the Constructor’s standings.

Click here to view photo gallery

Nico Rosberg Wins Austrian Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg

Wow, what a day! It feels so great to win again in Austria. It’s such a special track – very tricky and with a fantastic crowd. After my mistake yesterday in qualifying I was determined to push really hard to win this race. I had a good start and went into turn one in the lead, which was very important as I knew from past races this year that it’s very difficult to overtake the same car on track. After I passed Lewis I was able to control the lead quite comfortably. Towards the end I felt some vibrations on the right front tyre but I was able to manage it to the flag. Big thanks to the team for a great car and a perfect race. Now I’m really looking forward to Silverstone, where I have good memories with the pole last year and the win in 2013.

Lewis Hamilton

It was a pretty straightforward race. I didn’t have the best start. I had a problem with the revs in that, when I came off the throttle, the revs stayed up. So, when I dropped the clutch, I had too much wheel spin and lost ground. That’s something we’ll look at after the race. Then, I was keeping up with Nico in the first stint – but in the second phase he just had better pace. At the end it was just about bringing it home – but Nico deserved the win so congratulations to him.

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

I’m very happy with the result today, especially at my and Niki’s home circuit here in Spielberg. It’s even more special because we have three Mercedes engines in the top three for the second year in a row; it couldn’t be better. Nico drove a brilliant and dominant race today – he got a great start, had the upper hand on pace and made no mistakes at all. Both boys were right on the limit, as you could see when Nico came into the pit lane sideways for his pit stop! As for Lewis, his race boiled down to the start and the pit stop; he lost out off the line, which we will need to analyse, then looked to have a snap oversteer as he left the pit lane and put two wheels over the line. From there, he just brought the car home and managed the gap to Felipe behind. Like in 2014, we are seeing the advantage swing from driver to driver across the races, and I’m sure they’ll be battling all the way to the end of the season.

Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical)

A fantastic result to achieve another 1-2 and particularly so at a home race for Toto and Niki. The start was not ideal for Lewis, so he lost the benefit of pole position. There was no particular issue – Nico just managed to get away slightly better and there was actually not much in it away from the line. After the very early safety car, it then became clear that Nico had a slight pace advantage over Lewis – but more importantly that our car was showing a bigger advantage than we had anticipated over Ferrari. It therefore became more of a battle between our two drivers up until the first round of stops. Lewis, of course, was then handed a time penalty for a very small error. The number of errors that either he or Nico make is very small indeed and I think this highlighted that rarity rather than presenting any cause for concern. From there, it became clear to Lewis that the race win was out of reach barring any dramas, which gave us the luxury of managing the cars home for a great 1-2 finish.

A new Safety Car celebrates its DTM premiere: at the second DTM race at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz (29 to 31 May 2015), the Mercedes-AMG GT S is set to be deployed for the very first time. The new sports car will help to ensure maximum safety on the race track in the world’s most popular touring car series. In technical terms, the 375 kW (510 hp) eight-cylinder sports car is for the most part the same as the series production vehicle – just like its counterpart from the FIA Formula 1 World Championship™, the Official Safety Car.

A new Safety Car celebrates its DTM premiere: at the second DTM race at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz

In its road-going guise the Mercedes-AMG GT S has turned heads since its market launch in March 2015 and now the sports car is also taking to the DTM stage. The new season of the German Touring Car Masters (DTM) got under way during the first weekend of May in Hockenheim. The second DTM race taking place at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz at the end of May will see the Mercedes-AMG GT S make its first appearance as the official Safety Car. As part of the DTM, the three manufacturers regularly switch their Safety Cars, meaning that the GT S will also be deployed at the fourth race in Zandvoort, Netherlands (10 to 12 July) and at the final race in Hockenheim (16 to 18 October).

At the wheel of the official Safety Car will be racing driver Jürgen Kastenholz (47). He takes to the track when dangerous situations, such as an accident, extreme weather conditions or other incidents make it necessary for the vehicle to be deployed. The objective is to achieve maximum safety for the drivers, spectators and track marshals. After receiving a radio message from the race organisers, the Safety Car takes up its position at the head of the DTM field and guides the cars around the track until the normal course of the race can be resumed once more.

AMG sports cars also feature as the Official Safety Car in Formula 1®

The Mercedes-AMG GT S replaces the previous Safety Car, the C 63 AMG Coupé Black Series, which saw active service in the DTM from 2012 to 2014. As the second sports car independently developed by Mercedes-AMG, the GT S features a virtually identical configuration to the Official Safety Car being deployed at all of the 19 races of the 2015 Formula 1® season. High cornering speeds, dynamic bursts of acceleration and fast lap times – the profile of requirements is a demanding one. The ultimate goal is to guide the powerful 360 kW (490 hp) DTM touring cars safely around the circuit. In doing so, the Safety Car must not drive too slowly, in order to prevent the tyres and brakes cooling down too much and the engines overheating.

To face up to such a hard job on the race rack the GT S boasts ideal qualifications: the front mid-engine concept with transaxle, the V8 biturbo engine with dry sump lubrication, the dual clutch transmission and the sports suspension with aluminium double-wishbone axles provide the basis for fast laps on the race circuit. Excellent driving dynamics are innate in the genetic make-up of the Mercedes-AMG GT S: the intelligent aluminium lightweight design guarantees not only a low vehicle weight but also a low centre of gravity for the vehicle and an advantageous weight distribution of 47 to 53 percent between front and rear axle.

Drivetrain matches that of the GT S road-going version

The drivetrain of the Safety Car is identical to that used on the road-going version of the AMG GT S. With a maximum output of 375 kW (510 hp) and peak torque of 650 Newton metres, the 4.0-litre V8 biturbo engine guarantees high-end performance: the GT S accelerates from a standing start to 100 km/h in 3.8 seconds and attains a maximum speed of 310 km/h. As music to the ears of the fans in the stands and in front of their TV screens, the GT S is fitted with a modified Performance exhaust system for an even more striking AMG V8 engine sound which is predestined to give spectators goose bumps.

The Mercedes-AMG GT S clearly has race track performance in its genes, as only a small number of modifications were required to transform it into the DTM Safety Car. The AMG SPEEDSHIFT DCT 7-speed sports transmission corresponds entirely to the series production unit, for example. The AMG DYNAMIC PLUS package with which the Safety Car is equipped is optionally available to any GT S customer for a further increase in driving dynamics. It comprises dynamic engine and transmission mounts and a specific engine application in “RACE” DYNAMIC SELECT transmission mode and in manual transmission mode “M”. The package also includes tauter spring and damper tuning, more negative camber at the front axle as well as an adapted speed-sensitive sports steering system. The performance steering wheel in black DINAMICA microfibre and yellow highlights in the instrument cluster round off the AMG DYNAMIC PLUS package.

The Safety Car runs on particularly light cross-spoke forged wheels with fully integrated wheel bolt covers. The forged wheels painted in matt black with high-sheen rim flanges are fitted with tyres in standard size 265/35 R 19 on 9 x 19 (front) and 295/30 R 20 on 11 x 20 (rear). This wheel/tyre combination is also optionally available to customers for the Mercedes-AMG GT and the GT S.
The high-performance ceramic composite braking system is also available as an option for the road-going version of the GT. The advantages of this system are lower weight, a longer service life and even better fade resistance thanks to the ceramic brake discs with a diameter of 402 millimetres at the front and 360 millimetres at the rear.

Aerodynamically optimised carbon-fibre air scoop on the roof

In terms of appearance, the Mercedes-AMG GT S Safety Car differs from the series production vehicle above all by virtue of the striking light bar on the roof. It is positioned on a carbon-fibre air scoop which offers the least possible airstream resistance while at the same time providing for an aerodynamically optimised flow of air towards the fixed rear aerofoil. The positioning and design of the carbon-fibre air scoop and the light bar are the result of extensive wind tunnel tests. The additional front spoiler as well as the rear aerofoil reduce lift at the front and rear axles. Both form part of the Aerodynamics package which is also available for the road vehicle, as fitted to the exclusive “Edition 1” model.

All signalling functions on the light bar are performed by fast-responding, energy-efficient LEDs. Overview of functions:

Orange: as soon as the Safety Car is deployed, the orange LEDs are switched on. The flashing orange light in the middle and the steady lights on the outer ends of the light bar indicate “absolutely no overtaking”.

Green: when the GT S takes up a position in the middle of the field at the beginning of a Safety Car phase, the two central LEDs on the front and rear of the light bar are switched from orange to green. Green lights indicate to all DTM drivers that the Safety Car is to be overtaken.

The special number plate at the rear with Safety Car lettering and orange/green LEDs is synchronised with the light bar and provides for added safety in the dark or in rain. The headlamps and tail lights perform an additional important signalling function: whenever the Safety Car is on the track, a stroboscopic effect makes the car even more conspicuous.

Cockpit with radio equipment and sports bucket seats

While Jürgen Kastenholz is fully focused on the race track and keeping an eye on the DTM field in the rear view mirror, his co-driver is in radio contact with the race organisers. Six-point seat belts and sports bucket seats with the AMG emblem provide maximum support for the Safety Car’s crew. The Performance steering wheel in black nappa leather / DINAMICA microfibre with flattened bottom section, silver-coloured aluminium shift paddles and 12-o’clock marking guarantees maximum vehicle control. The interior of the GT S otherwise corresponds to that of the production vehicle.

Nico wins in Monaco to make it a hat-trick of wins in the principality, with Lewis completing a double podium in P3.

• It was a bittersweet victory for the team today after accepting a mistake was made in pitting Lewis under the safety car, which ultimately cost him the win
• Nico secured his second win of the season and made history at this circuit, becoming only the fourth driver to win three consecutive races in Monaco after Graham Hill, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna
• Nico ran option then prime stopping once on lap 37, with Lewis running option/prime/option, stopping on laps 38 and 65
• Lewis leads Nico in the Drivers’ World Championship by 10 points with MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS heading Ferrari by 84 points in the Constructors’ battle

Nico Rosberg

That was my luckiest experience in racing so far. What a crazy race. I was surprised when I saw no one else behind the safety car than me. I didnt know what was happening in that moment. But I concentrated on getting temperature into the tyres as they felt like ice. Until the safety car Lewis has done a perfect job, he was better than me over the weekend, so he definitely deserved the win. I know how horrible he must feel now. This weekend was a warning for me that I have to work even harder for the next race in Montreal. For sure I also feel happy to win again here in Monaco. It’s always so special, and one part of me will celebrate that victory today. A win is a win.

Lewis Hamilton

I can’t express the way I feel at the moment. I saw the team out in the pit-lane on one of the screens and thought Nico was pitting. I came in with full confidence that the others had done the same. This is a race that’s been close to my heart for years and it’s special to me, so I really wanted to win. The team have been brilliant all year, so I don’t blame them. We’ll analyse and work out what went wrong, but we’ll do that collectively and try to improve for the future. I always say to my team and my fans, we win and we lose together. You live to fight another day.

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

What a crazy day. I don’t think there has ever been a more bittersweet feeling than this one. We have won the Monaco Grand Prix and we have lost the Monaco Grand Prix all at the same time. First of all, we must apologise to Lewis. We win and we lose together and what I am proud of in this team is that we take collective responsibility. But this is a day when we simply have to say sorry to our driver, because our mistake cost him the victory here. What happened? In simple terms, we got our numbers wrong. We thought we had the gap for Lewis to take fresh tyres and come back out in the lead behind the Safety Car, ahead of Nico and covering off any risk of another competitor taking fresh tyres. But the calculation was incorrect and he came out in third place. It was our decision to call him in and our mistake, pure and simple; in these situations, a driver trusts his team. Lewis had driven flawlessly until then and really delivered a perfect weekend, with a stunning pole lap and a masterful race. There’s nothing more to say other than to highlight the grace with which he handled the situation; he was a leader and a true sportsman this afternoon. As for Nico, he didn’t put a foot wrong all day, and it would be wrong if we didn’t take the time to recognise his achievement: a third consecutive win in Monaco is something only three other drivers in history have achieved before. It is a very special moment indeed and one for him to savour. He didn’t have the pace of Lewis today but, in this sport, you take the victories any way they come. This, too, is motor racing. We now need to stay calm and analyse how we made the mistake this afternoon. We will be harshly self-critical behind closed doors and this experience will make us a better and a stronger team in the races ahead. There is still a very long way to go in this championship and today showed that we have the performance in our car to do the job this year.

Silver Arrows kick off European season in style with one-two finish in Barcelona!

Nico took his first victory of the 2015 season – the ninth of his Formula One career to date – with a superbly controlled drive from pole position

Lewis recovered from a poor start to clinch the 75th podium of his Grand Prix career in second place thanks to a blistering pair of stints within a bold three stop strategy

Lewis now leads Nico in the Drivers’ World Championship by 20 points, with MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS heading Ferrari by 70 points in the Constructors’ battle

2015 Spanish Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg

We had a perfect weekend here in Spain. We have a fantastic car and everybody did a really great job in the break, so thanks to the team for everything. My start was great for the first time this season. From there I was able to control the pace and I never felt in danger throughout the whole race. I’m so happy about this win. It’s still early days in the season so it’s good to close the points gap to Lewis. I will continue to push hard – starting with a home race for me in Monaco!

2015 Spanish Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton

I got off to a poor start with too much wheel spin and had to fight hard just to keep third. From there it was always going to be tough as it’s difficult to run right behind another car here and even tougher to pass. I managed to stay close enough to Seb before the first stops but unfortunately we lost a bit of time there. In the end, we went for a three stop strategy to try something different. That call was made quite early on as it was clear it wouldn’t have worked to stay out for that long and, again, passing on track was almost impossible. Luckily we had the pace to make it work. Nico was then 22 seconds ahead with 15 laps to go which was a big gap. I pushed really hard to close up until about 6 laps from the end but I was only gaining about a second per lap which wasn’t enough. So, damage limitation on a difficult weekend for me. But I’m grateful that I could score some good points for the team.

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

That feels like two P1 results today after such a demanding race. Nico did the perfect job this afternoon: he had a great start, built the gaps that he needed and made his two-stop strategy work in a fantastic way. He was controlled and composed throughout. Lewis lost a position on the start, then had a slow first pit stop, and that left him stuck behind Vettel’s Ferrari in the second stint. At that point, we knew that the only chance of getting past Sebastian was to do something different with the strategy but it was still a bold move to try the three-stopper. It was only going to work if Lewis managed to overtake on track and he made it work with great moves on Räikkönen and Bottas – he was decisive when he needed to be and showed some incredible pace on the prime tyre. As Lewis was building the gap he needed ahead of Sebastian in his third stint, we actually compromised Nico a little bit by leaving him out longer than optimum before his second stop. This made sure the two cars didn’t trip over each other on track, while running different strategies, and gave Lewis the clear air he needed to build the gap to secure P2. Following Lewis’ final stop, it was clear after a few laps pushing that the pace difference between the cars wasn’t big enough for him to challenge for the win, so we then told both drivers to bring the car home. It’s a great feeling to take a one-two finish at this circuit, which is a really severe test for the complete car package, and a confirmation that the updates we brought in a number of areas correlated to the track and delivered a good performance improvement. Well done to everybody back at both factories, now we will get our heads down and start working for Monaco.

Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical)

We’re absolutely delighted with today’s result. Nico took an excellent pole yesterday, which put him in prime position to drive a controlled and disciplined race from the front. This is precisely what he did to take a well-earned first win of the season. It’s important for us as a team to have two drivers competing and pushing each other – which is exactly what we’re seeing again this year – so well done to Nico on a very strong weekend. For Lewis, the race didn’t start off well with a lot of wheel spin off the line. From there, it was impossible for him to overtake Sebastian with the very marginal pace advantage we enjoyed in the first stint. We therefore attempted the undercut with an early stop but, unfortunately for Lewis, this didn’t work out after a problem with the left rear in the pit stop, so our apologies to him for that. This then required us to pull out something more extreme with the three stop strategy – which seemed like a bit of a long shot at the time. But Lewis’ pace on the prime tyre and then again on the second set of options was extraordinary. This enabled him to break free enough to avoid an overtaking situation before the third stop, making it a much more comfortable second place that it could have been. So, a huge congratulations to everyone on an important result to start the European season and a special thanks to everyone at our factories for all their hard work.

Double podium for MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS in enthralling Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit

• Lewis and Nico claimed a second consecutive double podium today, finishing P2 and P3 respectively
• Both drivers made clean starts to hold station in P1 / P3, only to then lose track position in the pits following the emergence of the Safety Car
• Lewis and Nico battled back strongly to return to the podium places, but top spot was out of reach after a strong performance from Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari
• Lewis ran an Option / Prime / Option / Prime strategy, Nico Option / Prime / Prime / Option
• Lewis marked his 150th Grand Prix start with his 72nd podium, while Nico claimed the 10th fastest race lap and 28th podium of his Formula One career

2015 Malaysian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton

First of all, huge congratulations to Seb and Ferrari. You have to hand it to them – I wasn’t expecting them to be as quick as they were today but they had some serious pace and deserved the win. It’s great for the fans to see them up here. It was a tough race out there. I was struggling with the balance today and never really felt comfortable with the car. There was so much understeer that tyre management was really hard. When I went to the option it was much better, so I thought we’d use it again at the end and was surprised we went with the prime. But I made the best I could with it and ultimately I’m sure the team made the call for the right reasons. There was a bit of confusion on the radio at one point where I wasn’t quite sure what we were doing on the strategy but I’m not sure if pitting with Seb would have made the difference anyway. They were as fast if not faster than us today and once I had that gap to make up it was just a step too far. I’m now looking forward to the next race and fighting to get back to the front again.

Nico Rosberg

That wasn’t a great weekend for me and I cannot be happy with third place. When the Safety Car came out I lost a lot of time in the pits. I expected to have to wait behind Lewis but it was letting some other cars by that cost the places – especially waiting for the Red Bull queue to move, I think it was. So I had to fight through to the top positions which was tough but my race pace was okay, so I can build on that. We have to congratulate Sebastian and Ferrari. They had a great race pace today and it’s very impressive how they improved over the winter. Now this will be a fight against Ferrari I guess – and we want to strike back in Shanghai.

Toto Wolff

Our first feeling today is obviously one of disappointment. We were beaten fair and square by Ferrari and Sebastian, who did a fantastic job, and I’m not sure we could have matched their long run pace at any point. They took a well-deserved win. We saw on Friday that Kimi was really strong in these hot conditions, with the track over 60 degrees, and that was confirmed in the race. Of course, it’s easy to be clever after the race looking at things we could have done better and there are certainly plenty of points that could have been optimised. But we take these decisions together as a team and this is the moment to stay calm, do our analysis and learn what we can improve for next time. It was a complicated race for the team to read – and for the drivers, too, from the cockpit. We had some interesting radio discussions and both guys did a great job to deliver the double podium at the finish. But I think we can also take a step back and look at the sport today. Always it seems that when people are making the most noise about changing the rules, Formula One delivers. It was the case in Bahrain last year and we saw it again today. It wasn’t a perfect day for Mercedes but it was a good one for Formula One.

Paddy Lowe

First of all, congratulations to Ferrari and Sebastian on an impressive victory. Coming into the race, there were two main choices to be made: whether to make two or three stops, and whether the Prime or the Option would be the better race tyre. It was clear yesterday that opinion was divided on that question, as we saw the leading teams using different tyre compounds in Q1. We saved new Prime tyres for the race, while others saved new Options. We planned a three-stop strategy favouring the Prime tyre and, although the Safety Car came out early, it was late enough to be used as the first of our three stops. With hindsight, the advantage this gave to Ferrari on their two-stop strategy, and the time we lost in traffic in the first laps after the Safety Car, left us with a gap to Sebastian that proved too much of a challenge for us to recover – especially considering that we did not have an underlying pace advantage to Ferrari, who were very competitive this weekend. Nonetheless, we scored a good haul of points with P2 and P3 and I must also say well done to the team, who performed brilliantly on one of the most difficult weekends for human endurance.