Orange safety car – a tribute to history

      Fans have long been used to seeing safety cars in modern Formula 1 in two colors – red when it's a Mercedes, and green when Bernd Mayländer, the unchanging FIA safety car driver, pilots an Aston Martin. But there are special cases, and the British Grand Prix is one of those events, which is why the safety car this weekend changed its color to bright orange. Of course, there’s a reason for this.

      This shade of orange is called Sunset Beam Orange, meaning “orange of the sunset beam,” and 55 years ago, Mercedes-Benz painted their famous experimental supercars C111 in this color, well known to automotive history enthusiasts.

      These cars exemplified futuristic design and the Stuttgart-based company's commitment to technical innovation. That’s why today Mercedes chose the same color for their all-electric concept car, the AMG GT XX. To attract additional attention to this project, they also decided to paint the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series in Sunset Beam Orange, which is used as the official FIA safety car during British race weekends.

      An additional reason for choosing such a bold color is the 75th anniversary of Formula 1, which began in 1950 at Silverstone. It should also be noted that, according to official statistics, the probability of a safety car appearing at this classic British race track is 88%.