All-New Vantage F1 Safety Car Is the Only Aston Martin That Can Keep Max Verstappen Behind

All levity aside, Aston Martin have just unveiled a fresh official FIA Safety Car for F1 purposes, and it’s based on the all-new 2025 Vantage. The new Safety Car will make its debut at this upcoming weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on March 9, when it will lead all 20 F1 cars on a formation lap, before taking its place at the exit of the pit lane awaiting instructions.

Of course, to see more of it, there would have to be an incident on the track, which is likely when it comes to narrow/street circuits such as Jeddah Corniche.

The all-new Vantage is animated by a hand-built 4.0-liter twin turbocharged V8 engine, featuring a 30% power increase over its predecessor. Basically, it’s got an extra 153 hp and 85 lb-ft of torque, for a total of 656 hp and 590 lb-ft (800 Nm) of pulling power. With the help of its 8-speed ZF automatic transmission, the 2025 Vantage can rocket to 60 mph in just 3.4 seconds, before maxing out at 202 mph (325 kph).

Aston Martin pointed out that to adapt to this role as FIA Safety Car, the new Vantage required no engine upgrade, no changes to its cooling system, or upgrade in braking performance. This sounds pretty impressive, although we can already hear Max complaining over team radio about the Safety Car needing to speed up – if you recall, drivers often complained about the old Vantage Safety Car, which couldn’t corner as hard as its Mercedes-AMG GT FIA co-worker.

Naturally, changes were made to the Vantage road car to prepare it for FIA Safety Car duties. It’s got new underfloor dynamics, an extended and profiled front splitter, a new rear wing (fitted in a bespoke position with a tuned Gurney), a more aerodynamic FIA lightbar, plus a series of modifications to the interior.

Among those, we count new seats for keeping FIA Safety Car driver Bernd Maylander firmly secured, and a bespoke center console with custom switchgear and custom screens for showing live lap times and track positioning.

“It is a pleasure to drive the Aston Martin. The car comes from an incredible bloodline and this newest version is the fastest yet,” said Maylander.

“My first impressions were very positive as I could immediately feel the improvement in handling and, of course, power. We need a car that is fast and focused so we can respond quickly and safely when we receive the call for on-track deployment and Vantage provides that.”