Medical car
The Medical Car is a while Motorsport inserted events Select vehicle that the fastest possible contact of paramedics with injured racers or track marshals should guarantee. The best known is the Formula 1 medical car .
It is stationed in the pit lane during the race weekend and is always ready for use during training units and the race, so that in the event of a serious accident it can be quickly reached to the scene of the accident. It is equipped with a complete set of emergency equipment for the treatment of the seriously injured.
The crew of the Formula 1 medical car consists of chief doctor Ian Roberts, driver Alan van der Merwe , who replaced Damien Faulkner at the beginning of the 2009 season , and another emergency doctor.
vehicle
In addition to the Safety Car , Mercedes-Benz / AMG has also been providing the Medical Car for Formula 1 since 1996 .
The current medical car is a C 63 AMG S T-model with a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine and 375 kW / 510 PS. The occupants can watch the race live on the screen of the integrated navigation system. The lighting system on the roof corresponds to that of the safety car , plus it has stroboscopic flashing lights on the front and rear.
The models used so far, special versions of the AMG series vehicles adapted for racing, were:
- C 36 AMG (1996–1997)
- E 60 AMG (1997)
- C 55 AMG T-Model (1998-2000)
- C 32 AMG T-Model (2001-2003)
- C 55 AMG T-Model (2004)
- C 63 AMG T-Model (since 2008)
- C 63 AMG S T-Model (since 2015)
As early as 1984 an AMG E-Class Coupé with a V8 engine was used sporadically as a medical car.
Accidents
- At the 1995 Hungarian Grand Prix , Taki Inoue was hit by the medical car after his car failed and was slightly injured in the leg.
- In 2000, Alex-Dias Ribeiro caused an accident with the medical car in Monte Carlo , in which Sid Watkins suffered a broken rib.
- At the Brazilian GP 2002, the Arrows - Cosworth driver Enrique Bernoldi had an accident during the warm-up , whereupon the medical car moved out and stopped behind the Arrows. The marshals on the start / finish straight, however, did not show any flags , so that the Sauber Petronas driver Nick Heidfeld drove too quickly into the curve and had to pass between the wall and the medical car. Ribeiro, the driver of the medical car, had already opened the door, which was badly damaged, but had not yet got out, so nobody was injured.
Web links
- Report on Sid Watkins' life as a medical car doctor , motorsport-total.com, July 10, 2002
- Report on the Safety Car and the Medical Car for the 2015 season , mercedesamgf1.com from March 9, 2015