Meet the safest hands in Formula 1: Bernd Maylander

When the heated Formula 1 competition needs to cool down, it turns to one man.

There is an amazing statistic that in the entire history of Formula 1 only one man has led more than 1,300 laps in 212 Grands Prix and yet not even scored a single championship point. His name is Bernd Maylander and he drives the F1 safety car.

Maylander, from Waiblingen in south-west Germany, has the icy veins needed when F1’s hotheads roll off the line and collide. When the race must be neutralized, with the drivers’ lives literally at stake, he takes control in his specially prepared FIA safety vehicle.

Gallery: Bernd Maylander, Formula 1 Safety Car Driver: Feature

“The two calls are ‘safety car on standby’ and ‘safety car deployed,'” says Maylander, who alternates between a Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series and an Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition. “And the moment they say ‘deployed’ I’m on the track, I find the leader, then I get additional information if there’s an accident, maybe I need to stay right or left in a corner, they tell me if there’s there are debris.”

Maylander, a former FIA DTM and GT racer, enters his 24th season driving the F1 safety car and has missed just a couple of races since his debut in 2000. Mercedes was the only safety car supplier to Aston Martin. joined the program in 2021, when duties were shared between the two cars.

“It was very professional how Aston Martin joined the FIA,” says Maylander. “The first event was at Mugello during the Covid era, and here it was, the Vantage F1 Edition, it’s definitely a great sports car. It’s definitely a bit different, the suspension, so the set-up is a bit different [to the more powerful Mercedes].

“Sometimes I feel a bit like James Bond! With Mercedes I raced for them, and maybe one day I can race an Aston… Maybe a historic one, or something like that.”

The Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition is a 4.0-liter coupe with a twin-turbo V8 engine that produces 528 horsepower, enough to reach 62 miles per hour in 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 195. It has an extra large rear wing. with a Gurney flap to produce a “very nice balance,” according to Maylander.

“I really like it,” he says. “I sat in one marque’s model for over 20 years, then the Aston Martin came along and my first thought was ‘let’s see how good this car is’ – I’d never driven one my life.”

Where this car really differs from the model you can buy for the street is in the trunk, which is packed with electronic system control units, a wifi router, the same GPS tracker found in F1 race cars, radio systems and a data logger. .

“All the equipment we have inside the car – communication systems and Wi-Fi, GPS maps, TVs – is for us to follow the race,” he says. “We have all this assistance inside the safety car and we run to the track every morning to check that everything is working.”

Four cameras, two on the rear wing and two mounted on the top of the roof, ensure Maylander has a great view of the most important F1 race cars behind. Its steering wheel and console are standard, but with some additional devices for safety lights and car radio (including a backup) and monitors that show the live TV channel, the driver’s GPS tracker and live weather
The Vantage has a full-sized fuel tank and two cars (four in total, including the medical cars) are taken to each event, alternating their use between F1 and FIA-sanctioned support races.

Maylander admits they have to keep the engine running during races, to keep their electrical systems and air conditioning on “so we’re not in the sauna for two hours.” Bernd usually does one set of tires per car per weekend, but this can go up to two sets if there is a lot of action. He adds: “We have four mechanics with us, who take care of the tires, the brakes, I think between them they could fix everything.”

Since its introduction in 2021, even the 113-degree Fahrenheit heat of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, hasn’t proved a problem for the Vantage: “We haven’t had a problem with this car since we started, no problem at all” . He always does a short debrief with the mechanics after each race, but “it’s always pretty short before going to the airport.”

Maylander rarely gets the spotlight, but Max Verstappen’s ‘tortoise’ over the Vantage at last year’s Australian Grand Prix, when he claimed it was running too slowly to allow him to maintain sufficient tire temperature , it certainly stung a bit.

“For the first 10 or 15 years, there were never any complaints from drivers,” Maylander says of the issue. “But we were from a different era. Especially since 2022, with the new F1 cars with bigger tyres, then we heard some things, and I understand their side, but they have to see our side too.

“When we, the FIA, deploy the safety car, safety comes first. If you ever think from your seat in the grandstand or the sofa at home ‘why is he driving so slow?’ There’s a reason for that. I’d say 90 percent of the time I could drive faster. But there’s a background to that. Sometimes the field has to crowd, sometimes there’s a crash that we have to move.” .

Although he didn’t get behind the wheel of an F1 car, Maylander has found his dream job here. And their “safety first” approach has kept lives safe that would otherwise be in danger. So will he quit soon?

“These 24 years have been hell, so I’m ready for the next 10 or 15,” he smiles. “I still get nervous on the grid. But I still have a lot of fun, and with partners like Aston Martin it helps to enjoy the weekend and the atmosphere.”