Why isn't the Safety Car an F1 car?

There are plenty of reasons as to why the Safety Car is not an F1 car... here's why.

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[nickpapageorgio]

People don’t realize how fast those GT cars can move. If the FIA didn’t force them to stay at a certain speed, they could most definitely be quick enough to make the drivers happy.

[shubhampatel]

I think another reason this would be a bad idea is because of the possibility that the drivers may confuse the safety car as another racer, especially in wet weather when visibility is low. Though the can change the colors or other parts of the car to make it stick out there is still the possibility it is mistaken for another driver.

[franssnoek]

And also, it needs to be able to operate in all sorts of conditions, rain, snow, freezing cold, baking sun, without changing tires, pre-heating stuff or cooling stuff down and it needs to be able to start right up with the push of a button instead of the complicated start procedure of an f1 car so that it can react as quickly as possible in all conditions

[DutchGamingPieces]

Also big point, you want the safety car to be slower so you create a gap in the track where marshalls can work safely.

[caezoyd]

There's another thing worth mentioning: you can't just turn on and get driving an f1 Car on short notice. You don't know when or if a SC is needed. Imagine some accident happens and they're like "wait a minute, we have to warm up the engine/tires", or else, the SC catching fire because it idled for too long

[-wghof-]

Love how everyone is still arguing for a faster car in the comments when Matt clearly said that the speed is dictated by ths FIA and the curtent safety car could go faster if needed.

[Rivv]

Also, key point here : there was an "F1" safety car for a few Grand Prix in 1994 (can't remember if it was in Formula 1 or other series), with none other than the Renault Espace F1. Yes, that huge MPV concept car by Renault with a Williams V10 and chassis. The thing is, you may very well never see the safety car in a race if all goes well. So you can imagine the nightmare of having an F1 engine idling for 2 hours, since it can't be started with just the turn of a key. So they did try it, and realized it was a stupid idea.

[dinnyemag]

I understand that it is part of the advertising, but I would LOVE to see the Mercedes AMG Project One and Aston Martin Valkyrie as safety cars, since they were created based on F1 cars in some aspect.

[evandrochaves]

A classic question from a new F1 fan but that actually is a curious one, but "safety" is the reason, and already in the name

[stephenbritton]

I have literally never had that idea… even back when American “stock car racing” used stock-ish cars, the pace cars were street cars.

[rosskgilmour]

I’d love to see a video tallying up costs of an f1 race as the race progresses. Instead of the timing screen a screen could present costs

[into_the_void]

Crofty - Bernd maylander is actually a very, very good driver. He is going a lot faster than it appears

[denisdrc]

Mat: Lightweight F1 car...
Meanwhile 2022 F1 car: Heaviest in history

[gregrowe]

I've never even considered this to be an option. Hell Nascar sometimes even has a truck as the pace vehicle. The safety car should look different than an F1 car and it obviously doesn't need to go 200 mph. When the safety car is used, its done so to slow the cars down because there's a wreck or broken down car on the track. Its to protect the workers, just like reduced speed limits in construction zones on a normal highway exist so you don't run over and kill someone working on the road.

[bdc]

This is the wrong question. It should be, why is the safety car not a GT3 car?

Both Mercedes and Aston Martin have GT3 versions of the current safety cars.

[aq]

I love you Matt. But honest question; Who in their right mind, not being incredibly high, would ever seriously consider that it would be a good idea to have a F1 car be the safety car? It never even crossed my mind

[firun]

I always thought it's about making the safety car stand out visually. A non-F1 car is immediately recognisable as a safety car, whilst an F1 safety car might be mistaken for a regular competitor.

[aryder]

Also, the safety car need to be idleing all time. And they tried with the Renault Espace F1 to put for some races but it was just so loud so uncomfortable that they stoped the idea. Plus the engine wouldn't be as reliable on the milage too.

[zeeem]

Amg gt black series is not a joke. It held the production car track record the fastest lap around nurburgring after porsche modded the gt2rs to take the record back again. I think a black series and porsche 911 gt3 will be a good pairing.

[TDUTOM]

We had a Fiat Tempra as a family car when I was young! What a car!!! Didn’t realise it was once an F1 Safety Car!