With the start of the 2022 F1 season just over a week away, Mercedes-AMG has unveiled its pair of safety and medical cars for this year's campaign.
F1's new Safety Car is Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series that sports a big aerodynamic change compared to its predecessor: it no longer features the prominent light bar on its roof.
Instead, Mercedes' engineers have imbedded into the car's windscreen a ramp of small LED lights that are also on the car's rear spoiler.
Furthermore, the special lights are also featured on the rear number plate and will illuminate or flash in the respective color at the push of a button.
Veteran safety car driver Bernd Maylander will once again manhandle the red machine on race weekends, flanked by co-driver Richard Darker who will have access to two monitors that will display all the race information and TV footage to help the pair keep track of proceedings.
©Mercedes
"I'm so happy that I will once again be at the wheel of the Formula 1 Safety Car for the 2022 season. And I'm especially pleased that this year it's a Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series," said Maylander.
"I've already had the chance to test this amazing vehicle many times and I'm simply blown away by how close it is to a thoroughbred race car.
"It really is a major step compared to last year's GT R – which was already at an extremely high level. To have a workplace like this in the name of safety is a dream come true."
Formula 1 has upgraded its medical intervention car to a Mercedes GT 63 S 4Matic+ that wears an identical red livery but features an aerodynamically-optimized carbon fiber scoop on the roof for the light bar.
It also carries a full set of emergency equipment, such as the defibrillator, rescue cutter, breathing apparatus, and two handheld fire extinguishers.
Three tablets and an extra monitor for the electronic rearview mirror allow those inside to keep an eye on the race. And just like the Safety Car, the new Medical Car has InCar Hotspot and WLAN capabilities.
"Since 1996 – that's every single year for more than a quarter of a century – Mercedes-AMG has been supplying the vehicles Formula 1 needs in emergencies," said Christoph Sagemuller, head of motorsport of Mercedes-AMG GmbH.
"In their role as Official F1 Safety Car, our performance vehicles have been safely leading the Formula 1 field around the track when called upon in bad weather or in the event of an incident. When needed, our Official F1 Medical Car is on the spot as quickly as possible
"To ensure this, we have upped the ante even further for the 2022 season with our most powerful models to-date, the AMG GT Black Series and the AMG GT 63 S. What's more, their on-track performance displays their unfiltered motorsport DNA more than any of their predecessors."
Like last season, F1's safety and medical cars will alternate between Mercedes and Aston Martin's vehicles.
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