Aston Martin F1 safety car crash caught on camera

The two occupants of Formula One’s safety car have emerged unscathed after a high-speed crash at Monza ahead of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.

As a part of pre-event checks, the Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition safety car was completing fast laps of the circuit, with driver Bernd Mayländer and passenger Richard Darker ensuring the track was ready for the coming three days.

However, on approach to the Parabolica curve to complete the lap, the car started to move in the braking zone, with Mr Mayländer appearing to initiate a spin to reduce its speed.

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Despite reaching the gravel trap, the Vantage continued on towards the barriers, impacting them at speed.

While Mr Mayländer and Mr Darker were uninjured, the Aston Martin appeared to receive major damage, ruling it out for its planned duties this weekend. A standby vehicle has been promoted in its place.

Aston Martin has announced it’s investigating the cause of the crash.

Earlier this year, Aston Martin announced it had tweaked the Vantage safety car for 2024, giving its Mercedes-AMG-built twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 a significant boost to produce 489kW of power and 800Nm of torque (up 114kW/115Nm), as well as aerodynamic exterior upgrades.

The changes were seemingly made in response to comments from Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen, who after the 2022 Australian Grand Prix criticised the Aston Martin Vantage safety car for being too slow compared to the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series used at certain races.

The Dutch driver went as far as calling the Vantage a “turtle”, which was backed up by timing data that showed the Aston Martin was almost five seconds slower than the Mercedes-AMG GT at some circuits.

MORE: New Aston Martin F1 safety car to answer Max Verstappen’s complaints