FIA Special Feature, A coffee with Bernd Maylander

I had a chat to the man who drives this super fast car. I sat down for a cup of coffee with Bernd Maylander, the Formula 1 Safety Car driver.

Tom Wilkinson: Bernd what do you think to Silverstone and the British Grand Prix here?

Bernd Maylander: The British Grand Prix at Silverstone is always very special, because it’s one of the most historical Grand Prix’s. I’ve been racing here many times before in Porsche’s, DTM and sports cars. It’s always nice to see the crowds, they are very dedicated Motorsport’s fans waiting for all the people from motor racing. They are perhaps the best fans in the world because this is where motorsport was born, so the background is really good. Germany is also very historical, but here the fans are just unbelievable, it's always very special. The weather conditions are always tricky, sometimes it's summer, other times it can be like November maybe. But that is part of Silverstone, you never know what the weather will be like. The race track is one of the best ones, you have historical parts, and it is a safe circuit with unbelievable corners. It’s a really good place, I’m a fan of Silverstone.

TW: Do you miss the old Abbey and Bridge corners?

BM: I have to say if you ask me how many years we have this new part of the track, I still have my brain focused on the old way, the old pit lane, so it’s still new for me. That old part was so historical, but I like the new part of the track, it’s still very quick with tricky corners. The people who built the circuit have done a really good job, they didn’t change the character of the old historical Silverstone race track. So it’s not a big change from a drivers point of view, but for sure I miss Bridge corner, then the two left hander's, that was a very challenging part of the track and also very exciting, but It’s still a great track.

TW: Do you have a favourite part of the Silverstone circuit?

BM: I think altogether, it’s the character of Silverstone and not only one part of it which I like. From a race driver's point of view, you can be very quick here, but you either like it or you don’t like it. Personally I like it very much, when I was racing here I had mostly good results, I have good memories also in the Safety Car as well. You can say Copse corner is for sure unbelievable as a race driver, Club corner is really special too. I remember when it was a really quick right corner without a chicane, which was just incredible. It’s a perfect F1 race track I have to say.

TW: What has been your favourite Safety Car?

BM: When I started in 2000 we had a big limousine a CL55 AMG, It weighed 2100 kilos, It was a very heavy luxurious car but for sure very sporty for that time. If you look now at the SLS GT AMG, It’s again very sporty, the most sporty car at the moment from AMG. So things have changed a lot, but they have always been a very fast very sporty car, that has been a part of the engineers at AMG. If you ask what my favourite car from when I started is, I would say it was the CLK 63 AMG. It was the new generation of the V8 6.3 engine. It was gorgeous, an unbelievably powerful car. But then also from a handling view, the SLS was the easiest car, that’s why we are now in our 4th season with this car. We switched over to the GT version towards the end of last season, it was even more sporty and powerful. This is the best Safety Car, but just going back to the CLK 63, I always called that car the beast, It was a very exciting car to drive, I had a lot of fun in that car.

TW: How close to the limit are you driving the Safety Car?

BM: The first thing we have to do is make sure the pack is behind us with the leader directly behind, we do this as quick as possible. From then on we go as quick as the car can, of course if we had slick tyres we would be much quicker, we don’t have this we have normal road tyres on the car. I try to drive the car nearly on the limit, but Safety Car is written on all sides of the car, so we must of course drive safely. You are not on a qualifying lap, we need to be very fast but also in full control. I would say I drive about 95 to 98 percent to the limit, so that way you are always on the safe side. We are over the curbs and pushing hard so it is really quick yes. But at the same time it’s not crazy.

TW: What role does Peter Tibbets have inside the Safety Car?

BM: Pete has been doing this job since 1997, he’s the co-driver in the Safety Car and has more experience in the car than myself. We work in the Safety Car together like in an aeroplane cockpit, he’s like a co-pilot. Peter takes care of the light system in the car, the radio contact to Race Control, he’s also a spotter, 4 eyes see more than only 2. We are connected by an intercom system, we get as much information as possible to race control, for example in bad weather conditions or if there is debris on the track. He talks to me and then gives this information to Race Control while I focus on the driving. He’s a very important part of the Safety Cars role.

After our very nice coffee in the FIA motor home, Bernd then took me into the garage where both the Safety and Medical Cars were kept. I was shown inside both vehicles, sat behind the wheel while Bernd explained the controls and systems inside the cars.

These may look like your ordinary Mercedes road cars, but when you're inside them, you realise that these are manufactured especially for their jobs. There are special requirements such as two TV screens inside each car, one for the live feed, and the other for timing screens. Also in the Medical Car there are 4 seats, all of which are special AMG bucket seats with a full race harness. The gearboxes in each car are the same as you would get in the road cars, but they are always driven manually. Many of the buttons are changed and adapted, these control the lights, sirens and communication systems.

They are absolutely fascinating, we may not see much of them on TV or in the media, but they play such an important role. They are extremely well looked after as you can imagine, unlike any road car, they are always driven close to the limit. Each car has a full service every 3 races, as they are on a rota system. There are 3 Safety Cars and 3 Medical Cars, only 2 of each are provided at each race while the third one will be receiving a full service and the AMG performance factory in Germany.

Mercedes-Benz AMG are hugely proud to provide Formula 1 with the Official Safety and Medical Cars, but It's a role they take extremely seriously. The car's are built to exact requirements, and are rigorously tested before they arrive in Australia. In February both Bernd Maylander and Alan Van Der Mewer drove all 3 cars around the Nardo test facility in Italy. Once they had some miles on the clock and truly bedded in, they were flown to Melbourne for the start of the season.

I would like to thank Bernd Maylander for his time in this fascinating interview, it was a real pleasure to meet the man behind the wheel of the Safety Car. Next time you see it on track and think, that looks slow, just remember, he's driving it to 98 percent of the limit.

With thanks to Kevin Bennett for his excellent photos taken at Silverstone follow him on twitter @bennett_Kevin

Check out Kevin’s website kevinbennettphotography.co.uk