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The Aston Martin Vantage Formula 1 safety car crashed heavily at the famous Parabolica corner on Thursday at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
The car ended up on the tyre barriers early in the long right-hander (now named Alboreto corner) and pictures from the scene show lengthy tyre marks on the track. The incident took place at 2.19pm local time.
Regular F1 safety car pilot Bernd Maylander was driving the car, and he and the car’s passenger - as yet unnamed by the FIA - are both “fine”.
On the ground in Italy, The Race’s Edd Straw said: “I only saw the incident once on a small screen but my best guess is something may not have been working as expected approaching the corner.
“It looked like Maylander sensibly decided to throw the car into a spin to minimise the size of the accident. We'll have to wait for the FIA's investigation to know for sure though."
A statement from the FIA read: “There was an on-track incident with the FIA safety car today at Monza.
“Aston Martin is investigating the cause but can confirm both driver and passenger are fine. There is an additional safety car at the circuit and it will not impact the weekend's event.”
Thursday is often used to test safety cars and get some running in alongside the Pirelli Hot Laps that give people a passenger ride around the track, sometimes with the drivers themselves.
Such incidents are rare but this isn't the first time an F1 safety vehicle has crashed. Alex Ribeiro infamously shunted the medical car, a Mercedes estate, at the 2000 Monaco Grand Prix.
Then-Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld hit the medical car at the 2002 Brazilian Grand Prix, while Taki Inoue was struck by a medical car at the 1995 Hungarian Grand Prix.
