Oct 31, 2015 7:00 AM

Gallery: Meet the Mastermind Who Keeps F1's Daredevil Racers Safe

Tom Fowlks for WIRED
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Bernd Maylander, at the office. He drives the Formula 1 safety car, a job not unlike being a shepherd keeping the flock safe.
Tom Fowlks for WIRED
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Maylander's been the safety car driver for 16 years. In that time, he's missed one race, in 2001, due to an injury.

Tom Fowlks for WIRED
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Ian Roberts is a doctor and F1's medical rescue coordinator. He and a local doctor are the first to treat injured drivers.
Tom Fowlks for WIRED
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Alan van der Merwe is a former professional racer who drives the F1 medical car.

Tom Fowlks for WIRED
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The medical car always includes a doctor from the local trauma center. In Austin, it was Dr. James Kempema.
Tom Fowlks for WIRED
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The F1 Medical car is Mercedes-Benz AMG C63 S station wagon. It's been stripped of sound insulation and some amenities and is packed with communication gear, but otherwise it's just like the one you can buy.

Tom Fowlks for WIRED
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The medical car carries everything needed to defibrillate, intubate, medicate, and do any number of other things to a driver requiring such care. “We can do pretty much everything from those two bags,” Roberts says.
Tom Fowlks for WIRED
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Everyone wears a racing suit, helmet, and full safety gear.

Tom Fowlks for WIRED
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Van der Merwe, lapping Circuit of the Americas. It's a tough job, because although the Mercedes-Benz AMG C62 S "is an impressive bit of kit," it's also "a sitting duck against an F1 car."
Tom Fowlks for WIRED
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Both cars use an iPad Mini and an iPad to follow the race and what's happening on the track.

Tom Fowlks for WIRED
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Both cars are packed with communications gear, GPS tracking, WiFi and other technology, which is one reason they're kept idling through the race. All that gear would drain the battery otherwise.
Tom Fowlks for WIRED
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The Mercedes-Benz AMG GT S has just a few modifications---brake cooling ducts, a light bar, racing tires, and a raft of communication gear---but is otherwise stock. It even has an entertainment system.

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