Earlier this week, Reddit user Fart_Leviathan went back and counted just how many laps in F1’s history have been “led” by the safety car.
Of course, the safety car doesn’t actually get credited with leading any of the laps - although Bernd Maylander wouldn’t mind it - but that doesn’t stop us from being curious.
So, here it is: The safety car has led about 743 laps in F1 history under 212 safety car periods, beginning with the 1973 Canadian GP and ending with the 2016 British GP. About 637 of those laps have been led by Bernd Maylander.
This would put the safety car 27th on the all-time leaders list, just behind Gerhard Berger and just ahead of Ronnie Peterson. It’s also led more laps than F1 champions Jody Scheckter, James Hunt, Jacques Villeneve, Alan Jones, Keke Rosberg, Emerson Fittipaldi, Denny Hulme, Jochen Rindt, Giuseppe Farina, John Surtees, Mike Hawthorn and Phil Hill.
Click HERE for the full Reddit post.
Click HERE for the full list of laps led.
