The first crash at the Italian Grand Prix occurred on the day before track action was due to begin.
The official F1 Safety Car, driven by Bernd Maylander, spun into the barrier at Alboreto, the corner formerly known as Parabolica, during the high-speed track test at the Monza circuit on Thursday. The occupants were able to climb out of the car by themselves.
Footage indicates the car spun on the way into the corner, slid sideways through the gravel trap on the outside and made contact with a TecPro barrier in front of a stack of tyres. It is unclear whether anything failed on the car prior to the crash.
F1 uses two different models of Safety Car during a grand prix season. This weekend Maylander is driving the new Aston Martin Vantage which was introduced this year. The Vantage has a four-litre, twin-turbo V8 engine producing 655bhp, allowing the car to reach a top speed of over 310kph.
Maylander, 53, is in his 25th year as F1’s Safety Car driver. He previously raced in Germany’s DTM touring car series and competed in numerous sportscar races. He shared outright victory at the Nurburgring 24 Hours in 2000 with Michael Bartels, Uwe Alzen and Altfrid Heger in a Porsche 996.
Crashes involving F1’s official course vehicles are rare, but have happened in the past. Nick Heidfeld’s Sauber crashed into the Medical Car during a practice session at Interlagos in 2002. The Medical Car also crashed in practice at Monaco two years earlier.
F1 brings multiple examples of its Safety and Medical cars to each round of the world championship, so the series is not in danger of being unable to replace the damaged machine if needed.
Safety Car crashes during Monza high speed track test
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2024 Italian Grand Prix
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