Published: Dec 23, 2012

The History of the Mercedes-AMG F1 Safety Car

Mercedes has been furnishing the Formula One World Championship with AMG safety cars since 2000. Here's a little retrospective on the cars that have served to keep F1 racers at bay.

Safety is a big concern in a racing series as fast-paced as Formula One, so a lightning-quick safety car is required. Since 1996 that task has fallen to Mercedes-Benz, which has furnished AMG-tuned automobiles specifically for the task. The first was the C63 AMG, which was replaced the following season by the CLK55 AMG. The new millennia brought a new AMG safety car based on the CL55, followed by the SL55, CLK55, SLK55 and CLK63 AMG.

The SL63 AMG set the pace in 2008, and was followed by the gullwinged SLS in 2010. That was replaced by the SLS GT, which continues to keep the F1 racers at bay when the yellow flag is waved. In this video, F1's official designated safety car driver Bernd Maylander talks about the AMGs he's driven on the job since taking up the position in 2000.