The FIA has responded to recent drivers’ comments about the speed of Aston Martin’s safety car, with Formula 1’s governing body issuing an official statement.
Aston Martin and Mercedes are supplying safety cars for use in Formula 1, with the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series being used for the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix.
In Melbourne it was the turn of the Aston Martin Vantage and, after appearing on track, he faced some criticism from the drivers for apparently being slower than the Mercedes. Max Verstappen criticized her so much that he gave her a . called “turtle” †
Charles Leclerc, who won the race, explained that he struggled to keep his tires warm under the safety car, but saw the car driven by Bernd Maylander being pushed to its limits.
Next to him was George Russell (Mercedes driver) who joked “We don’t have that problem with the Mercedes. Seriously, the Mercedes-AMG is five seconds per lap faster than the Aston Martin, which is quite substantial.”
The FIA confirms the relevance of the safety car
The FIA statement released on Wednesday is a direct response to the criticism.
“In light of recent comments about the pace of the FIA Formula 1 Safety Car, the FIA would like to reiterate that the primary function of the Safety Car is of course not outright speed, but driver safety. marshals and officials.”
“The safety car procedures take into account different objectives depending on the incident in question, including the requirement to regroup the pack, have an accident close or pick up debris on the track into a vault and to pick up the pace based on those activities that may be going on on another part of the track.”
“The speed of the safety car is therefore generally determined by the direction of the race, and not limited by the capabilities of the safety cars, which are custom-built high-performance vehicles prepared by two of the world’s leading manufacturers, equipped to do in the ever-changing track conditions and driven by an extremely experienced and capable driver and co-driver.”
“The impact of the safety car speed on the performance of the following cars is a secondary consideration, as the impact is equal between all participants who, as always, are responsible for safe driving at all times, depending on the conditions of their car and the track.”
