The F1 Safety Car Just Crashed at Monza

The F1 Circus is headed to Italy this week to do battle at Monza, the fastest track on the calendar. Just how harrowing does this high-speed circuit get? Well, one of its most famous corners just took out the safety car.

According to Autosport, the safety car-an Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition-was headed around Parabolica, the final turn of Monza's 11 corners and also one of its fastest, when driver Bernd Maylander lost control of the car. It went sliding through the asphalt run-off area and careened through the gravel trap, ultimately coming to a rest by slamming into the tire barrier on the outside of the turn. Thankfully, Maylander and his passenger were able to exit the car unaided, though Mylander was seen holding his leg, according to F1 photographer Kym Illman.

Rapaz, toda cara do mundo de ter sido uma falha mecânica! Imagina se acontece em uma corrida!

Lembrando que a F1 sempre leva mais de um carro de segurança para as corridas.

: Formula One Management (FOM)#SafetyCar | #ItalianGP | #FormulaOne#Formula1#F1pic.twitter.com/BlPNywuSoI

- BOTECO F1 (@sergiosiverly) August 29, 2024

At each circuit that F1 visits, Maylander runs a series of at-speed laps in the safety car to perform systems checks and ensure the car will be ready to carry out its duties on track. These laps are part of the regular preparation ahead of a grand prix weekend, so there was nothing out of the ordinary from a process standpoint here. It's unclear at this time whether the wreck was caused by a mechanical issue or simply driver error.

Because F1 cars are such precision machines and operate at their full potential at extremely high speeds (Monza tends to have the highest average speed of any track on the calendar, somewhere north of 160 mph), the safety car that paces the field during laps where the caution flag is out needs to be incredibly quick itself.

After concerns were raised last season that the Vantage wasn't quick enough to pace the field, causing the F1 cars to build excessive heat because they couldn't flow enough air through their vast array of heat exchangers, Aston Martin introduced an upgraded version of the Vantage this year. The enhanced Vantage gained a larger grille opening to hoover up more air, larger turbochargers and new camshafts for the AMG-supplied 4.0-liter V-8, and revised bodywork to aid aerodynamics. The net effect of those engine upgrades juiced the new Vantage with 150 extra horsepower, bringing the final power figure to 656 hp.

We'd bet there's a spare safety car on site, or within relatively easy reach. F1 never fails to amaze when it comes to the exhaustiveness of its planning for a grand prix weekend. There's a reason they call this thing a circus. Mylander is a pretty talented driver in his own right, so if we were betting folk, this feels like a one-off incident rather than a precursor to something more ominous.

The race at Monza should be an absolute banger this weekend. McLaren has clearly unlocked something with their car, as last week we saw Lando Norris go to Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix and disappoint the sea of orange fans by trouncing Max Verstappen by nearly 23 seconds. Max, however, still holds a substantial lead in the F1 Drivers' Championship, 70 points ahead of Norris.

The more interesting battle currently is on the Constructors' side, where McLaren now only trails Red Bull by 30 points. Verstappen remains a model of consistency and prowess for Red Bull, but his teammate, Sergio Perez, is having an abysmal middle of the season; he hasn't cracked the top five since May at the Miami Grand Prix. Meanwhile, Norris and his teammate, Oscar Piastri, are routinely dueling for podium spots, enabling McLaren to post many more points per race than Red Bull. With an alarmingly fast car prepped for the fastest circuit on the calendar, look for McLaren to have a banner weekend and possibly draw that Constructors' Championship raceeven closer.