The DTM enters a new era on 29 April, with spectacular new cars and a third premium manufacturer competing for the title. They are all good reasons why Michael Schumacher will attend the opening race of the world’s most popular touring car series. Michael will be at Hockenheim for the opening race weekend of the DTM’s new era as a guest of Mercedes-Benz.The MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS driver competed in four DTM races as a member of the Mercedes-Benz junior team in the 1990 and 1991 seasons.
Then as now, the championship was fiercely contested by the three prestigious German marques Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
Among the eight drivers racing for Mercedes-Benz this season is his younger brother Ralf Schumacher (Germany, 36, DTM Mercedes AMG C‑Coupé) who claimed his first DTM podium finish in last year’s season opener at the Hockenheimring.
The seven-time World Champion will also see the three members of the new Mercedes-Benz Junior Team, Roberto Merhi (Spain, 20, Junge Sterne Mercedes AMG C-Coupé, Persson Motorsport), Christian Vietoris (Germany, 23, Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Coupé, HWA) and Robert Wickens (Canada, 22, stern Mercedes AMG C-Coupé, Mücke Motorsport), after meeting them for the first time during pre-season Formula 1 testing in Barcelona.
Michael Schumacher: “It doesn’t seem all that long ago since we launched the new DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé at the Frankfurt Motor Show last September. I’m really interested to see whether the car looks as good on track as it did during the launch. And of course, I’ll be supporting my brother Ralf. He got his first DTM podium finish a year ago in Hockenheim and, who knows, maybe we’ll have a reason to celebrate this time round as well. I'm also looking forward to the first race for the newly formed Mercedes-Benz Junior Team, and its drivers Christian Vietoris, Robert Wickens and Roberto Merhi. Just like I did at the start of my career, these young drivers have the benefit of being supported by Mercedes-Benz as they make the step to top-flight motor racing. It’s a long time since I last went to the DTM, so I’m looking forward to an exciting race at Hockenheim and to enjoying the fantastic atmosphere.”
Tickets for all 2012 DTM races are available at the Mercedes-Benz Online Ticket Shop at www.mercedes-benz.com/dtm or via the Ticket Hotline on 0180 5 97 22 67.Credits: Daimler AGCopyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.
LEWIS HAMILTON
- MP4-27A-03
- Started: 1st
- Finished: 3rd
- Fastest lap: 1m41.539s (+0.817s, 6th)
- Pitstops: Three: laps 5, 14 and 41 (Inter-Full Wet-Inter-Op)
- Points: 30 (2nd)“This was a tough but fascinating race – firstly, I want to offer my congratulations to Fernando [Alonso] and Sergio [Perez] – they both drove great races and did a fantastic job.
“It was pretty eventful race: it was difficult trying to judge the best time to change from Extreme Wets to Intermediates, and we were probably a little late on that – but that’s how it goes sometimes.
“Today wasn’t perfect – making the call for slicks is always a risk, and the others went a bit earlier than us. In general, we lost some time in the pitstops and I was pushed out of the fight somewhat. But, all in all, it’s been a positive weekend and I’m not too frustrated. My aim for this season was always to be consistent – I did it in 2007 so I’m trying to repeat that!
“A big thanks to Lucozade for doing such a great job with the new race hydration formulations this weekend – they’ve really made a difference in such a hot and humid climate. For me, the next races will be all about converting our really strong qualifying pace into equally strong race pace – that’s what I’ll be working in the few weeks ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix.”
JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-27A-02
- Started: 2nd
- Finished: 14th
- Fastest lap: 1m42.100s (+1.378s, 14th)
- Pitstops: Five: laps 4, 13, 15, 24 and 39 (Inter-Full Wet-Inter-Inter (& front wing change)-Inter-Op)
- 2011 points: 25 (3rd)
“Today was a pretty difficult day; pretty much everything that could have gone wrong in the race did go wrong. And that’s just one of those things – a lot of my issues were brought on when I wiped my front wing off at the start: I locked up the rears, couldn’t slow the car down and hit Karthikeyan, which was a bit frustrating. So I had to pit for a new nose, and that was pretty much it.
“And it’s always going to be tough when you’re down in 14th or 15th position. All the cars were so close and it was difficult to overtake, too. That made it very difficult.
“Big congratulation to Fernando, Sergio and Lewis, who scored more good points for the team – but it just wasn’t a good day for me today. The amazing thing is that I’m still third in the championship after not scoring any points!
“This wasn’t really the result I wanted – but, hey, chin up: we’ll move forwards and hopefully have a much better weekend in China!”
MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
“Today certainly wasn’t the day I was expecting! Firstly, this was a terrific race for Ferrari and a great result for Sauber – congratulations to both teams. It’s frustrating for us, as the race didn’t really go our way, but today’s result is great for the sport of Formula 1.
“For Jenson, it was simply a bad day in the office – losing a front wing in tricky conditions was always going to make it a hard afternoon for him.
“Lewis was somewhat unlucky, too: Ferrari’s ‘double-shuffle’ pitstop meant we were obliged to hold Lewis in his pitbox longer than we would have liked, but that’s motor racing. Nevertheless, he brought home some extremely valuable world championship points – his 15 points today consolidate Vodafone McLaren Mercedes’ position at the top of the constructors’ championship.
“Today’s conditions were always going to represent something of a roll of the dice. We didn’t quite manage everything today, and we’ll go back and analyse our performance, but in normal dry conditions we’ve shown that we’ve got decent pace. There’s a long season ahead, and with one victory and two strong podium positions, we can return to Europe extremely encouraged about the forthcoming races.”
* Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes *
Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.
Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg finished the rain-affected Malaysian Grand Prix in 10th and 13th places respectively today.
• Starting from third, Michael’s car was touched on the first lap leading to a spin which dropped him to 16th at the end of lap one
• The rain falling prior to the race increased in intensity from lap four and led to a red flag on lap nine and a 51 minute delay
• After the restart, both Michael and Nico struggled to get the best from their tyres and were not able to fight for positions
• Michael stopped on laps 5, 14 and 39, with an intermediate/wet/intermediate/prime tyre usage
• Nico stopped on laps 5, 13, 26 and 39, with an intermediate/wet/intermediate/intermediate/prime tyre usage
Michael Schumacher
“From where I started the race, it’s a real shame to grab just one point at the end today, and of course I would have wished for a better finish for our team after their hard work. However I was touched at the back soon after the start and the car spun which really decided my afternoon. During the first part of the race, I just tried to stay on track as you couldn’t see anything, and it was the right decision to halt the race. After the re-start, the pace wasn´t that far off but it was the same for a lot of teams so there was no way to gain positions. It’s clear from today that there is still a lot of work for us to do to take our pace from qualifying into the race, and I am sure the guys are already thinking very hard about finding a solution. But this will not be done from one race to another, it will take some time, and we need to give it that time. Still it is a fact that we have improved, so I can fly home now being sure about this and looking forward to fighting in the races to come.”
Nico Rosberg
“That was an unlucky day for me after an eventful race. I had a good restart and because of a good strategy I was in fourth position. But then I had problems with my intermediate tyres; the degradation was very high which forced me to do another pit stop for a new set. The positive thing is that on my last stint with the slicks, I had good pace and because of my tyre management, I was able to beat Jenson. We are strong in qualifying but not yet in the race, and we need to work on that before the next race in China.”
Ross Brawn
“It’s a very disappointing end to what had been such a positive weekend here in Malaysia. Clearly we have a conundrum with this car that we have to unravel. After such an encouraging qualifying session, and indeed the fuel runs that we did on Friday, we struggled to get the tyres to work properly in the race today. There were little windows when we seemed to get them working and other times where we fell out of them completely. I don’t believe that we are abusing the tyres, just not using them properly, and it’s a problem that we have to solve if we are going to move forward with the car. It is especially disappointing after the potential we have shown, however I am confident that we have enough strength and the right people to unravel the problem. We will be getting our heads down back at the factory next week and doing just that.”
Norbert Haug
“From P3 Michael did not have the best start but was still in a top five slot when he was spun around during the first lap and passed the start and finish line in P16. After the restart, things did not go any better and we never really could cope with the wet conditions and the drying out track on which nobody has had the opportunity to test before the race. Other teams could obviously handle these mixed conditions better and all credit to them. Both Ferrari and Sauber did a great job today so congratulations to those teams, Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez. We obviously did not have the set-up to make the best out of these tricky conditions today. We brought Nico in and put him on slicks which was a calculated risk that finally did not pay off. Our car has got speed and we will continue to work hard to generate this speed in the race as well as in qualifying.”
Official photos and report courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS
Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.
