Why there will be no Aston Martin Safety Cars in F1 2026
Only Mercedes will provide Safety Cars to F1 in 2026.
There will be no Aston Martin Safety Cars from the 2026 F1 season.
Aston Martin have decided against renewing its deal to supply F1 with safety vehicles after its current contract expired at the end of 2025.
Since 2021, the British marque had shared responsibility for F1’s Safety Cars with Mercedes.
Aston Martin provided the Vantage F1 edition as its Safety Car, while Mercedes supplied an AMG GT Black Series.
With that deal now ending, Mercedes will have exclusive supply of F1’s Safety Cars for the forthcoming 2026 season.
When Verstappen criticised Aston Martin
Aston Martin’s Safety Car came under fire when it was first introduced, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen famously calling it a “turtle”.
“The Safety Car was driving so slow, it was like a turtle,” Verstappen said at the 2022 Australian Grand Prix. “Unbelievable. With that car, to drive 140 on the back straight, where there’s not a damaged car anymore, I don’t understand why we have to drive so slow.
“We have to investigate. For sure, the Mercedes Safety Car is faster because of the extra aero, the Aston Martin is really slow. It definitely needs more grip because our tyres were stone cold.
“We went into the last corner, I could see Charles understeering. So I’m like ‘OK, I’ll back off a bit more’ and I had a better line. It’s pretty terrible, the way we’re driving behind the Safety Car at the moment.”
Aston Martin upgraded the F1 edition Vantage after its less powerful model was criticised. The new-spec boasted 656hp.
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