Formula 1 drivers have pretty much always complained that safety cars are too slow, meaning they can't keep temperature in their cars' brakes or tires. This year, though, those complaints may be more valid, as the pace disparity between F1's two safety cars is so great that 2021 champion Max Verstappen compared the slower of the two—the Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition—to one of nature's slowest creatures: The lowly turtle.
The reason for Verstappen's complaint becomes eminent on comparison of the Vantage to the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series with which it shares safety car duties, as used for the opening two rounds of the season. Mercedes' safety car is the penultimate form of the AMG GT; a track-oriented special with heavy aero and a 720-horsepower, twin-turbo V8. The Aston Martin has the same engine but in a lighter, 527-horsepower state of tune, not to mention a less extreme aero package. As a result, Mercedes-AMG F1 driver George Russell told Motorsport that it's a whole five seconds per lap slower than the Mercedes. That made it even tougher in Australia for the race leaders to keep temperature in their tires during either of the safety car's two deployments.
Read Article