Method for producing a seamless steel pipe and rolling mill for performing the method

The invention relates to a method and a rolling mill for producing a seamless steel pipe in a continuous rolling process, where semi-finished material is first formed into a hollow block (8) in a rotary rolling mill, said block then being rolled in a multi-tooled continuous rolling mill (1) over a previously inserted mandrel (10) to form a tube blank (9), wherein the mandrel (10) receiving the hollow block and held by a mandrel holding and transporting device (5) disposed on the entry side is fed into the continuous rolling mill (1) and is transported back to the entry side after the tube blank has been rolled off of the mandrel (10) on an extracting rolling mill (4) connected downstream of the continuous rolling mill. An aim of the invention is to allow high production rates at the same product quality, particularly at a low drop in the temperature of the tube blanks. The aim is achieved in that the mandrel (10) with the tube blank (9) is released by the entry-side mandrel holding and transporting device (5)