Why Bernd Maylander is the safest pair of hands in F1

Of course, it’s the FIA’s F1 safety car driver Bernd Maylander. The 51-year-old from Waiblingen, in the southwest of Germany, has the ice-cold veins required to keep F1’s racers in check when things go off the rails.

Maylander is in his 24th season of driving the safety car and has only missed a couple of races since his debut in 2000 – including Monaco in 2001, after he fractured his heel falling over a wall while returning to his hotel ahead of a DTM race at Oschersleben. A race-winner in the 1997 FIA GT championship who conquered the Nurburgring 24 Hours in 2000, Maylander has become well versed in the safety car procedure over the years.