Moritz Mueller-Crepon showed his potential but overall, experienced a mixed weekend, which was not just because of the weather.
Qualifiying: Moritz Mueller-Crepon qualified fourth in his group and started eighth on the grid.
Race 1 After a long six-month winter break, the ADAC Formula 4 returned to Motorsportarena Oschersleben for the first race action of the year. After making his move from Jenzer Motorsport to Van Amersfoort Racing, Moritz Mueller-Crepon was eager to get back behind the wheel once to start racing again.
The weather was typical for April in Germany, which saw everything this weekend, from warm to cold temperatures and sun to rain. The start of the weekend’s first race was aborted due to sudden heavy rainfall, which gave teams and drivers the chance to change to wet tyres and adjust their set-ups if the driver required it. After two laps behind the Safety Car, the race finally got underway for the first action of the year. Moritz immediately went on the attack, making some great overtaking manouvers, showing that he was able to apply what he had learnt over the winter months. The 19-year-old made up two positions at the start, and the following battle with Mick Schumacher for fourth place was particularly exciting. “It was a tough fight, but this was the part that was really fun,” explained Moritz, who admitted defeat in the latter stages, saying that “my tyres were gone.” After a further two safety car periods in the race, Moritz would finish the race in fifth, scoring ten championship points.
Race 2
Moritz once again started in eighth place for race two, with the first two laps of the race being conducted under the Safety Car, before racing got underway with a flying start. Whilst the front of the grid were ready to go racing, Yannick Brandt and Louis Gachot collided at the back of the field, which brought out the red flag. After a six-minute delay experienced by the fans, drivers and teams, a further 20 minutes of race action was started once again by the Safety Car.
Moritz fought his way up to seventh place, and by lap six, he was battling with Sophia Floersch, who took a wide outside line into turn one. The Van Amersfoort driver saw a chance and tried to overtake, when the Motopark female driver suddenly closed the door. The pair clashed and were forced to finish the race. “It was my fault,” admitted Mueller-Crepon, who received a three-place grid penalty for the final race of the weekend. “I got too bold, and I can only apologise to both Sophia and my entire team.”
Race 3 The 35-strong field were ready for the regular standing start, when one driver from Team Timo Scheider stalled his engine on the grid, which meant that the field would have to complete another formation lap. However, when the race was started for the second time, Mueller-Crepon stalled his engine, with the #25 dropping all the way back to 25th place. The Safety Car was brought out again with a further four drivers eliminated, which included Moritz’s team mate Kami Laliberté. After the final restart of the race, Moritz had fantastic pace, which helped him to finish 15th overall, having made up 10 places.
Moritz Mueller-Crepon scored 10 points over the weekend, which now puts him ninth overall in the drivers’ standings.
Moritz Mueller-Crepon: “From my perspective, the weekend was a disaster, because I didn’t score in the last two races. But on a positive note, we definitely have the pace to fight at the very front. Now I will work even harder to prepare for the next round at my favourite track, the Sachsenring. I hope to be back at my very best.”
In just ten days, the second race weekend of the 2016 ADAC Formula 4 season will take place at Sachsenring, from the 29th of April to the 1st of May.
Press release Moritz Mueller-Crepon
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