LONDON: Mercedes-Benz has unveiled the new official Formula 1 Safety Car and Medical Car for the 2015 season. A specially prepped Mercedes-AMG GT S will take over from the previous SLS AMG GT, while a new C 63 S Estate will be used as an emergency car.
A Mercedes has been featured as the F1 Safety Car since 1996, though that had been the less than stellar W202 C 36 AMG. The latest GT S uses a 4.0 litre twin turbo engine that makes 510 hp and 650 Nm of torque, enabling it to get to 100 km/h in 3.8 seconds. Behind the wheel will be Bernd Mayländer, as he had been for the last 15 years.
The 2015 Medical Car, meanwhile, will be driven by Alan van der Merwe, with official FIA head physician Dr Ian Roberts also on board. It gets the same 4.0 litre biturbo engine as the GT S, but with its peak torque boosted to 700 Nm. It can reach the 100 km/h mark in 4.1 seconds.
Both vehicles feature very little modifications compared to their road-going versions. Other than the upsized wheels and carbon ceramic brakes which are optionally available on the road cars they are fitted with special LED light bars as per FIA regulations. With the current crop of F1 machines sounding like they do now, these two will definitely be the best sounding cars on track this season.
