Mäylander thanks Leclerc: "Nice that Charles saw I was at the limit"
General
- GPblog.com
During the 2022 season, Formula 1 will be driven with two different safety cars. One is a Mercedes, the other an Aston Martin. During the Australian Grand Prix, it was the Aston Martin's turn to escort the field after the retirement of one of the F1 cars. Afterwards, the safety car was criticized. Driver Bernd Mäylander states that he drove on the limit.
Mayländer has long been the man who drives the safety car in the premier class of motor racing and criticism has been directed at him. It is mainly about the fact that the car of Aston Martin is too slow. Max Verstappen discribed it as a a "turtle" afterwards. Because the Formula 1 cars drive so slowly, it is extremely difficult to maintain the temperature in the tyres and brakes.
Mäylander could not go any faster
Also at the press conference, the journalists present asked about the experiences of driving under the safety car. Charles Leclerc stood up for Mäylander by saying that from his cockpit he could already see that the safety car was sliding a lot at Albert Park.
Mäylander says he is aware of criticism from drivers such as Verstappen, but he states that there is very little he can do about it himself. In conversation with Auto, Motor und Sport he thanks the Ferrari driver accordingly. "Of course it's nice that Charles saw that I was absolutely at the limit. That's all I could do."
Near-crash in Australia
Mick Schumacher almost crashed into Yuki Tsunoda under the safety car. Schumacher left a gap and then accelerated to stay within the required ten car lengths. However, at that moment Tsunoda braked heavily to get temperature in his brakes and so we almost had a crash. The stewards therefore advised the FIA race committee to discuss this.