Driving the Aston Martin F1 Safety Car – car pictures of the week
In this week's car pictures, we look at the highlights from our time with one of the most videoed cars in the world – the Aston Martin Vantage F1 safety car
This weekend the Formula 1 circus heads to Brazil for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, round 21 of the 2025 FIA Formula 1 world championship and another opportunity for Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to ask themselves ‘He couldn’t, could he?’ as four-time world champion Max Versteppan continues to eat away at their respective championship advantage.
Even the most hardened anti-Max fans are building a grudging respect for how the Dutchman is dragging his dog of a Red Bull to the finish of races he has no right to score so many points from. If you’re gunning for your first world title, as both Oscar and Lando are, the last thing you need is a flying Dutchman taking sizable chunks out of your lead. Especially when there is a single point between the two McLaren drivers and only four races to go.
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Why do we bring you this insightful F1 update? Because at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace (Interlagos to you and I) there is an 86 per cent chance of the safety car being deployed and in the new issue of evo, the December 2025 edition, James Taylor spent the day with Aston Martin Vantage Safety Car and its driver, Bernd Maylander.
While at many races Maylander can spend the entire race parked at the end of the pitlane, his Vantage (or Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series depending on whose turn it is to supply the safety and medical cars - in Sao Paulo it’s Aston Martin) is statistically more likely to be called into action this weekend.
Since 1993 the safety car has been deployed 32 times (excluding Virtual Safety Cars), nine times it’s had to scramble on the first lap when the Senna Curve has caught out the last of the late brakers and those who lack spacial awareness. While some drivers have been less than complimentary about the Vantage’s on track pace, the Gaydon factory goes to great lengths to optimise the standard car’s performance for its track work, as our Anatomy of an F1 Safety Car story details.
You can order a copy of the December 2025 edition from the evo shop now.
