Aston Martin F1 Safety Car Crashes at Monza
In an unusual incident, the Aston Martin Vantage safety car that paces the Formula 1 field has crashed at Monza. Both safety car driver Bern Mylander and an unnamed passenger are uninjured after the hit.
The crash happened during a reconnaissance run on Friday. Footage of the incident from a trackside camera shows the safety car momentarily sliding to the left while braking into the right-hand corner before snapping around to the right, leading to a spin through the gravel and a hard hit. The exact cause of the crash is unknown, but the FIA tells Autosport in a statement that Aston Martin is already investigating the hit.
Pace car crashes are rare, but they do happen. In the 2018 Detroit Grand Prix, a C7-generation ZR1 was famously crashed right before the race began. Most safety and medical car crashes generally involve other race cars, like the hit at a Pau World Touring Car Championship race. Collisions involving the F1 medical car have happened a few times, including a crash in a similar pre-race test at Monaco in 2000. Nick Heidfeld also hit the medical car in his race car in 2002, and Taki Inoue was once hit by the medical car while walking past the site of a crash in 1995.
Another safety car is on site and ready to pace Sunday's Italian GP, so the crash should not change anything for race day. A spare car and no injuries make this a best-case scenario, but we still recommend avoiding any and all pace car crashes during a race weekend.
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