Five hundred deployments and counting. Mercedes-AMG marked its 500th appearance as the Official FIA F1® Safety Car at the 2025 United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, a milestone that traces back to the very first deployment in 1996 at Magny-Cours with a C 36 AMG. Over the years, 13 AMG and Mercedes-Benz models have led the pack, turning mayhem into order while showcasing what happens when speed meets control, with each new generation raising the bar for performance, technology, and precision on the track.
When the race gets messy, from wrecks to debris to wild weather, the Official FIA F1® Safety Car springs into action. But that’s easier said than done when your charges are 20 F1 machines capable of 230 MPH, each twitching at the mercy of milliseconds.
Bernd Mayländer, a Swabian ex-racer and AMG ambassador, has been at the wheel since 2000, striking the perfect balance between pace and prudence. His record includes 19 consecutive laps in Fuji 2007 and a remarkable 33 laps over four deployments in São Paulo 2016, moments that are part endurance test, part precision ballet, and part mental chess with the fastest drivers on the planet.
Since 2022, the AMG GT Black Series has served as the pinnacle of F1 safety cars, packing a handcrafted 4.0-liter V8 biturbo with flat-plane crank, dry sump lubrication, and 720 horsepower. It hits 0-60 MPH in 3.1 seconds, a figure that makes every mid-race deployment a spectacle.
Aerodynamics borrow heavily from the AMG GT3 race car, while integrated LED lighting and FIA-standard communication systems keep drivers in line. Fuel comes from PETRONAS Primax Pro-Race M2, a 100-octane mix with 40 percent sustainable components, which serves as a reminder that speed and responsibility can coexist.
The Safety Car program is as meticulous as it gets. There are three cars on standby, 21 LED modules, digital interior mirrors, sirens tucked into wheel arches, and a dedicated team of AMG engineers monitoring every system and fine-tuning details down to milliseconds to ensure peak performance on every lap.
Over 29 years, Mercedes-AMG has refined the choreography of motorsport safety. From Canadian chaos in 2011 to the 500th appearance in Austin, it’s clear that these cars are part safety machines and part rolling pieces of German engineering theater. And they seem to have no problem doing their best work at speeds over 200 MPH, turning every deployment into a lesson in control, precision, and unrelenting excellence.
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