Bernd Mayländer

Bernd Michael Mayländer (born 29 May 1971)^[1] is a German racing driver and current Formula One safety car driver.

Bernd Mayländer
Mayländer at the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix
Nationality	German
Born	(1971-05-29) 29 May 1971 (age 54) Waiblingen, Germany
Previous series
1995–1996 1997–1998 2001–2004	DTM (ITC) FIA GT DTM
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1999
Teams	Champion Racing
Best finish	19th
Class wins	0

Racing career

Bernd started his career in karting at the end of the 1980s. In the following years he made his way to the Formula Ford, the Porsche Carrera Cup and the original DTM. In 2000, he won the 24 Hours Nürburgring in a Porsche 911 GT3-R. When the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) series was resumed in 2000, he drove for Mercedes-Benz. He raced for Mercedes in DTM from 2001 to 2004, having won one race at Hockenheimring in 2001.^[2]

Safety car driver in Formula One

Mayländer leading the race leader, Felipe Massa, and other drivers at the 2006 Brazilian GP

Mayländer is the safety car driver for all Formula One races. He has driven the Formula One safety car since 2000^[3] with very few exceptions, such as the 2001 Monaco Grand Prix and 2001 Canadian Grand Prix, when he was injured and was replaced by Marcel Fässler^[4] and the 2002 United States Grand Prix when he was replaced by Irish racing driver Damien Faulkner.^[5]

As of 2018, Mayländer had led over 700 laps in Formula One during his career.^[6] Peter Tibbetts serves as his map reader.^[7]

During a test prior to the 2024 Italian Grand Prix, after brake failure, Mayländer spun the safety car crashing into a barrier to reduce impact speed at the Parabolica. He and passenger Richard Darker were not injured in the incident.^[8][9]

Mayländer competing in the 2002 DTM season

Other

In May 2005, he was one of six Mercedes-Benz drivers taking part in a record drive. Three stock E320 CDI cars drove 100,000 miles (160,000 km) in 30 days around the clock, which resulted in an average speed of 139.7 mph (224.8 km/h).

Racing record

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft/Masters results

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos.	Pts
1995	Persson Motorsport	Mercedes C-Class V6	HOC 1 13	HOC 2 NC	AVU 1 Ret	AVU 2 18	NOR 1 16	NOR 2 7	DIE 1 9	DIE 2 10	NÜR 1 11	NÜR 2 11	ALE 1 13	ALE 2 Ret	HOC 1 9	HOC 1 8							20th	12
2001	Manthey Racing	AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM 2001	HOC QR 9	HOC CR 9	NÜR QR 11	NÜR CR 20	OSC QR	OSC CR	SAC QR	SAC CR	NOR QR	NOR CR	LAU QR 8	LAU CR 13	NÜR QR 5	NÜR CR 7	A1R QR 9	A1R CR Ret	ZAN QR Ret	ZAN CR DNS	HOC QR 2	HOC CR 1	11th	28
2002	Manthey Racing	AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM 2001	HOC QR	HOC CR	ZOL QR 19	ZOL CR 16	DON QR 14	DON CR 9	SAC QR 19	SAC CR 13	NOR QR 11	NOR CR 8	LAU QR 17	LAU CR Ret	NÜR QR 21†	NÜR CR 14	A1R QR 16	A1R CR Ret	ZAN QR 17	ZAN CR 11	HOC QR 12	HOC CR Ret	19th	0
2003	Persson Motorsport	AMG-Mercedes CLK 2002	HOC 11	ADR 10	NÜR 17	LAU 16	NOR Ret	DON 12	NÜR 14	A1R 15	ZAN 16	HOC 20†											19th	0
2004	Team Rosberg	AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2003	HOC 14	EST 18	ADR Ret	LAU Ret	NOR 13	SHA1 DNS	NÜR 15	OSC 19	ZAN 15	BRN 16	HOC 14										20th	0
Sources:[10][11]

† Driver did not finish, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winner's race distance. ¹ - Shanghai was a non-championship round.

Complete International Touring Car Championship

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	Pos.	Pts
1995	Persson Motorsport	Mercedes C-Class V6	MUG 1 12	MUG 2 10	HEL 1 9	HEL 2 9	DON 1 11	DON 2 8	EST 1 12	EST 2 13	MAG 1 Ret	MAG 2 12																	19th	8
1996	Persson Motorsport	Mercedes C-Class	HOC 1 Ret	HOC 2 Ret	NÜR 1 16	NÜR 2 Ret	EST 1 14	EST 2 Ret	HEL 1 11	HEL 2 7	NOR 1 16†	NOR 2 11	DIE 1 19	DIE 2 14															24th	15
	Warsteiner Mercedes-AMG														SIL 1 14	SIL 2 Ret	NÜR 1 11	NÜR 2 9	MAG 1 Ret	MAG 2 DNS	MUG 1 Ret	MUG 2 Ret	HOC 1 9	HOC 2 Ret	INT 1 16	INT 2 7	SUZ 1 8	SUZ 2 Ret
Source:[11]

† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1999	Champion Racing	Dirk Müller Bob Wollek	Porsche 911 GT3-R	GT	292	19th	2nd
Sources:[10][12]