I've led 1,400 F1 laps without scoring a point

Telegraph

3 days ago

Here is a question. In Formula One 's 75-year history, which driver has led for more than 1,400 laps, yet never won a single championship point? The answer: Bernd Mayländer.
F1's official safety car driver will again don his fireproof overalls at this weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone. It will be the German's 492 nd F1 race since making his debut in Melbourne in 2000 and he says he is looking forward to it, even if he hopes he will not be needed.
Silverstone was, Mayländer says, the scene of 'probably the craziest experience' he has ever had at a race. In 2003, the now-defrocked Irish priest Cornelius 'Neil' Horan ran down the Hangar Straight wearing an orange skirt and waving a religious banner, which stated 'Read the Bible. The Bible is always right'.
'I didn't believe Herbie [Blash, then FIA deputy race director] when he came on the radio and said there was a guy running on the track,' Mayländer recalls. 'But I went out, saw him and then the marshals jumped on him. Absolutely crazy.
'But I love Silverstone. Just look around. The grandstands are always full. Even if the traffic is not nice, or the British weather. It doesn't matter. You can feel the passion. You can feel it's the home of racing. Also the fans. They're coming to me with pictures from 30 years ago, from Donington or Brands Hatch. I'm like 'That can't be me'. But it is!'
On the day we meet, the weather is decidedly 'British' in the sense Mayländer meant it. None of this heatwave nonsense, it is hosing it down. We are on an 'Aston Martin Experience' day. The kind of day of which that heads dream about; the chance to put two souped-up Aston Martins through their paces. Firstly the Vantage, one of two safety cars currently used in Formula One (Aston Martin and Mercedes have shared safety and medical car duties since 2021). And secondly the DBX707, which is the sturdier medical car.
By the time I go out for my laps in the Vantage, it has been raining steadily for about an hour and puddles of standing water are dotted all over Silverstone's inner Stowe circuit. It is huge fun, albeit I get a bit too cocky ahead of my final lap, giving the four-litre twin-turbo V8 too much of a rip out of the final corner, only to lose control and start spinning towards a tyre wall. Thankfully the car's Automatic Traction Control (ATC) system kicks in in time, arresting my slide, and I am able to get going again, waving cheerily to an Aston Martin engineer peering anxiously over the pit wall at me.
Aston Martin prefer to do their high-speed passenger laps after their guests have had their turn, which is eminently sensible. If you went second, you would realise how much you were leaving on the table. When I go out with Mayländer, it is like he is driving a different car (see video below).
'Sebastian and Lewis whinge the most'
What F1 viewers probably do not realise is quite how fast a safety car goes in the race. When you watch a safety car period in F1, it always appears to be trundling along at a snail's pace, with a long line of F1 cars weaving behind it.
Drivers occasionally pipe up over the radio to whinge about how slowly the safety car is going and complain about losing heat in their tyres. 'Immediately I would say Sebastian [Vettel] and Lewis [Hamilton],' Mayländer says when I ask which drivers are the worst for whingeing. 'But I don't blame them for it.'
In actual fact, he is flooring it much of the time. 'Once the track is clear, I'm probably going at 95 per cent race speed,' Mayländer says. Given the fact the German is a former DTM (German touring car), GT and Porsche Supercup race-winning driver, and given the fact the Vantage produces 656 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque, allowing for a top speed of 202mph and a 0-60mph time of 3.4 seconds, his '95 per cent race speed' is seriously quick.
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'If I'm going my race speed, no one is complaining any more by the way,' he says. I can see why. When we do our hot laps, Mayländer throws the car aggressively through every corner, drifting, braking violently despite the wet conditions, always on the limit of traction, correcting each slide expertly with a dab of opposite lock.
The final lap is particularly violent, including the pit-lane re-entry, which he appears to relish taking at breakneck speed, braking hard at the last second. 'I never get a penalty if I go in too quick!' he says, laughing after we come to a stop. 'Okay, even we are allowed to make jokes sometimes. Sometimes it comes up on the dash 'Safety car report to the stewards, speed limit!' That's OK. I think that's allowed sometimes.'
'When I started, Schumacher was winning everything'
Mayländer has become a bit of a legend in Formula One; a part of the furniture. Now 54, the German's 25 years in the sport comprises one third of its entire existence. In all that time he has missed only a handful of races. 'In 2001, I broke my heel jumping over a fence and missed Imola, Monaco and Canada,' he says. 'Then in 2002 I missed one race in Imola when I got a pneumothorax [collapsed lung] on the right side.'
F1 has changed markedly in that time. Mayländer is a bridge to a completely different era. He was recruited by Charlie Whiting, F1's long-time race director, sadly no longer with us, while competing in the 1999 Porsche Supercup series. Initially invited to drive the safety car at Formula 3000 races, he stepped up to F1 the following season when Oliver Gavin, the then safety car driver, decided to pursue a racing career in the United States.
'I started when I was 29, so I've nearly doubled my age since then, which is amazing to think,' he says. 'But I tell you, the time has gone by so quickly. I've seen different generations. When I started, it was Michael Schumacher winning everything. Then it was Fernando [Alonso], then it was Sebastian [Vettel], then Lewis [Hamilton], now Max [Verstappen]. But I still love it. I still get nervous when I'm on the grid, which I think is important.'
How long can he go on? Mayländer, it should be noted, also handles safety car duties in F2 and F3, meaning his weekends can be extremely busy. Plus, there are now 24 race weekends per season as opposed to 16 or 17 when he started out. He smiles. 'That still leaves 28 weekends,' he points out. 'I mean, I do have a life outside of Formula One.'
Mayländer, it turns out, has twin boys aged seven ('No karting yet. I keep my money!') and even began his own wine business – Mayländer Wine – a few years ago.
'It started as a hobby with a friend in 2018 in his vineyards but it's getting bigger and bigger,' he says, offering to bring a bottle to Silverstone for me to sample. 'Last year we produced more than 10,000 bottles. Riesling, Zweigelt, Rosé… from my region in Germany, Strümpfelbach, just east of Stuttgart. It's a lot of work, but it's fun. It helps keep me fresh.'
Mayländer, it seems is ageing like a fine wine himself. He has no intention of stepping down yet. He still feels his '95 per cent race speed' is plenty speedy enough. 'I was a racing driver so I know where the limit is and for sure you are losing a little bit [due to age],' he says. 'But in a road car, where everything is slower because it is lower speed, in the end you have more time. That helps me at my age definitely. But experience is more important than being able to drive two-tenths quicker or half a second quicker. I'm pretty sure I can go for another five years. How long exactly I haven't decided yet.'