march 15, 2023 - mercedes amg motorsport

Tales from the paddock - Jan Seyffarth: "Sim racing has become the third pillar of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport alongside F1 and GT racing"

Saudi Arabia, here we come!
The 2023 F1 campaign is gathering pace. One and a half weeks on from the season opener in #bahrain, the teams are now arriving at Jeddah Corniche Circuit in #saudiarabia for this weekend's race, the third time the country has hosted the premier class of motorsport. The 6.174 km track made its F1 debut in the 2021 season and has since been modified in some places for 2023. So-called 'rumble lines' have been installed at five of the corners to slow down cars straying outside track limits. In addition, the steel kerbs in some corners have been replaced by bevelled kerbs, and several high fences have been moved to improve driver visibility. The 2023 Grand Prix will again be contested over 50 race laps and a race distance of 308.45 km. The inaugural race at Jeddah in 2021 was won by Lewis Hamilton and the second in 2022 by Max Verstappen. The fastest race lap (1:30.734 minutes, 2021) and the absolute lap record (1:27.511 minutes, Q3 2021) are both held by Lewis.

Mercedes-AMG E-Sports team URANO #esports wins DNLS title
Mercedes-AMG E-Sports team URANO #esports wrapped up the Digital Nürburgring Endurance Series championship with a P3 in the final race of the season. In a dramatic contest on Saturday, Alexey Nesov (BUL) and Sebastian Schmalenbach (GER) at the controls of the number 91 Mercedes-AMG GT3 beat their closest rivals for the title. The second and third places in the overall standings also go to virtual Mercedes-AMG GT3s. The #15 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Team Williams #esports Razer, which had been leading the standings going into the KALFF 4-hour race, had to settle for the runner-up spot. Mercedes-AMG E-Sports team HRT by UoL finished the DNLS season in third place overall. Following on from the success in the 2021/22 season, this is now the second consecutive title for a Mercedes-AMG E-Sports team in the high-calibre sim #racing championship on the virtual Nürburgring-Nordschleife.

Three questions for #janseyffarth

The 2022/23 title in the Digital Nürburgring Endurance Series has gone to a Mercedes-AMG E-Sports team for the second time in a row. Four Mercedes-AMG GT3s were still in contention for the title in the season finale last weekend, which resulted in a podium lockout for the brand. Mercedes-AMG E-Sports performance team URANO #esports were ultimately crowned winners by a two-point margin. #janseyffarth, Project Manager Virtual Motorsport at Mercedes-AMG, shares his thoughts on this success story and fills us in on the background.

Jan, a thrilling title fight in the DNLS has now come to an end. What thoughts were going through your mind during the finale?
Jan Seyffarth: I was watching the action with sweaty palms. We looked to be in a strong position going into the race, but that's also the tricky part. Before the final, no fewer than seven teams representing different manufacturers were still in with a chance of becoming champions, including four fielded by Mercedes-AMG and three performance outfits supported by us. Consequently, the whole event was extremely nerve-wracking. Because we treat everyone equally, I was a little nervous that we might mess things up for ourselves. But in the end, of course, the sheer joy at this great success outweighed all other emotions. My congratulations go to the Mercedes-AMG E-Sports team URANO #esports on their well-deserved championship, but also to all our other participating teams, who gave it everything they'd got right up to the end and also did an excellent job.

It's the second DNLS title in a row for Mercedes-AMG. Where does this strength in depth come from?
Jan Seyffarth: There are many reasons for this. We are continuously working away in the background to create the best possible conditions. One of the special things about the DNLS is that the contestants in virtual motorsport work together with real drivers. In crewing the virtual cars, we try to ensure that the pairings are approximately equal in terms of skill and experience. In addition, we support the teams as much as we can and make sure that they can draw on the full range of resources. And although at the end of the day each team is competing for itself, we are a family that stands as one and strives for success that can be shared by all.

What do these successes mean for Mercedes-AMG's commitment to e-sports?
Jan Seyffarth: We have now been active in e-sports for almost two years, and the way in which we have achieved our objective of establishing ourselves and climbing up the table has been impressive. We set out to gain a foothold and have made a name for ourselves in the world of e-sports. This has also helped our cause internally: alongside F1 and GT, sim #racing has become the third pillar of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport. But we are far from completing this project. We want to become even bigger, push the sport to the forefront and fully exploit the enormous potential of this particular market. This will also enable us to further enhance our image and reach an even larger audience, because the Mercedes-AMG brand also has numerous followers in the virtual arena.