Mercedes officially confirms full-time F1 safety and medical car contract

Mercedes has officially confirmed that it will provide the safety and medical cars for every Formula 1 race weekend in 2026.

While the news was anticipated after Aston Martin confirmed that its contract alongside the Brackley outfit had come to an end in 2025, Mercedes has now confirmed that it will be the sole provider of safety and medical cars for the upcoming F1 season, including pre-season testing in Bahrain.

2026 will mark a couple of milestones for Mercedes, which has provided the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series as the F1 safety car and the Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S 4MATIC+ as the F1 medical car since 2022. It will celebrate the 30th anniversary of providing safety cars in the championship, with its first outing at the 1996 French Grand Prix, and safety car driver Bernd Mayländer will reach 500 grands prix in the role.

“Safety is an absolutely central value of our brand and our products,” said Christoph Sagemüller, head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport. “That is why we have been providing the Official FIA F1 Safety and Medical Car in Formula 1 since 1996.

The FIA Safety Car on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

“From the 2026 season onwards, the FIA F1 Official Cars will once again bear the star at all F1 events. In this way, we will continue to make an active contribution to safety in the premier class of motorsport.

“For Mercedes-AMG, Formula 1 is not only a sporting platform, but also an environment in which the performance, reliability, and safety of our vehicles become visible under extreme conditions.”

Pre-season testing in Bahrain will take place from 11 to 13 February and again from 18 to 20 February. The season will begin with the Australian Grand Prix from 6 to 8 March at Albert Park.