Aston Martin Safety Car to make its debut at Bahrain

Formula One has announced that it has signed an agreement with Aston Martin which will see the British sports car manufacturer provide the sport with the Safety Car and the Medical Car at selected grands prix.

F1Technical’s Balazs Szabo reported on Saturday that Aston Martin would field a safety car and a medical car in the 2021 F1 season, which has been confirmed today. The sport has signed a multi-year partnership with Aston Martin and Mercedes-AMG that will see both manufacturers supply Official Safety Cars and Official Medical Cars to the Formula One World CHampionship from 2021.

That will be the first time in 25 years that two manufacturers have supplied the safety car in the same year. Aston Martin and Mercedes AMG will alternate the supply of the vehicles at each race in 2021.

Mercedes AMG will continue to supply the Mercedes AMG GT R as the Official Safety Car and the Mercedes AMG C 63 S Estate as the sport’s Medical Car with both sporting a brand-new look for 2021. The German manufacturer started its partnership with Formula One in 1996. The American cybersecurity technology company, the CrowdStrike will become the Official Mercedes Safety Car Partner from this season.

Aston Martin will run a specially equipped version of their Vantage – the most powerful model in the luxury British brand’s production range – for its safety car, while the Aston Martin DBX will fulfil the carmaker’s medical car commitment. Both the Aston Martin Vantage and Aston Martin DBX will be feature a ‘2021 Aston Martin Racing Green’ livery,

There will be no changes regarding the drivers of the sport’s official vehicles. Bernd Mayländer will remain behind the wheel of the Safety Car, while Alan can der Merwe will continue to drive the Medical Car.

Aston Martin will make its debut at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on March 28 while Mercedes AMG will fulfil the duties at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on April 18.

Commenting on the announcement, Formula 1 President and CEO Stefano Domenical said: “We are very pleased to announce our new partnership with both Aston Martin and Mercedes-AMG to provide the Official Safety and Medical Cars to the FIA Formula One World Championship. Aston Martin and Mercedes-AMG are iconic automotive brands, and we are proud of their place in our incredible sport.

„The safety and medical cars are a hugely important part Formula 1 and are always there to keep our drivers safe. Last season we witnessed the heroic speed and dedication required by the crews in rescuing Romain Grosjean from his dramatic accident, and the both the Aston Martin and Mercedes-AMG cars are perfectly equipped to respond at a moment’s notice to ensure the safety of the drivers.”

FIA Formula 1 Race Director and Safety Delegate Michael Masi commented: "We are delighted to welcome Aston Martin as a supplier of FIA Formula 1 Safety and Medical Cars, sharing the role together with our longstanding partners at Mercedes-AMG who have been with us since 1996.

„The Safety and Medical Cars are an essential part of running a safe and successful FIA Formula One World Championship event - from track tests and inspections to race interventions and neutralisations, they are a vital tool for myself as Race Director and my team to utilise in order to keep everyone safe and get back to racing as efficiently as we can following an incident.

„These cars need to be fast in all conditions and carry a huge amount of cutting-edge technology onboard, and looking at the Vantage and DBX, Aston Martin has done an impressive job getting the cars ready for action. I think the fans are going to really love the new additions at selected events this year - Aston Martin is an iconic brand with a huge amount of racing heritage - and likewise also with the new-look Mercedes-AMG GT R, it will certainly keep Formula 1 looking fast even when we have to slow the racing cars down,” Masi concluded.