Who Drives the F1 Medical Car? Inside F1's Fastest Ambulance (2026)
You hear the safety car called out over team radio all the time -- "safety car, safety car, safety car" -- but the medical car almost never gets a mention, even though it's sitting on the grid at the front of every single race, engine running, ready to move the instant something goes wrong. It isn't a ceremonial escort. It's a purpose-built rescue vehicle with a doctor in the passenger seat, and its entire job for that first lap is to be close enough to a crash that seconds don't get wasted. Here's who's actually driving it in 2026, what's changed since the last generation of drivers retired, and the crash that showed exactly why it matters.
The F1 Medical Car by the Numbers
- 2026: the year Mercedes becomes the sole supplier of both FIA cars, fielding a Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S 4MATIC+ as the medical car, per Motorsport.com's report on the new full-time deal.
- 13: seasons Alan van der Merwe spent as the medical car's driver, from 2009 through 2021, before being dropped for 2022 under the FIA's Covid-19 vaccination requirement for paddock access, per RacingNews365.
- 2 (since 2022): the number of drivers, Bruno Correia and Karl Reindler, who have shared medical car duties since van der Merwe's exit.
- 12+: years Dr Ian Roberts has served as FIA Formula 1 Medical Delegate, a role in which he's now attended more than 250 Grands Prix, per Keele University's own profile of him.
- 1 lap (minimum): how long the medical car follows the field at the start of every race, positioned to reach a first-lap incident as fast as possible.
- 2020: the year Correia and Roberts reached Romain Grosjean's burning car at the Bahrain Grand Prix -- a response for which Roberts later received an FIA President's Award.
Who's Actually Driving in 2026
For 13 seasons, the answer to "who drives the F1 medical car" was simple: Alan van der Merwe, a former racing driver who took the seat in 2009 and held it through 2021. That changed for 2022, when the FIA's paddock-access rules required full Covid-19 vaccination and van der Merwe, who was unvaccinated, was replaced rather than granted an exception. Since then, duties have been shared between two drivers with very different backgrounds: Bruno Correia, from Portugal, and Karl Reindler, an Australian who built his reputation racing in the Supercars Championship before joining the FIA roster. Both know the same job -- get from the grid to an incident faster than anyone else on track -- even though neither has van der Merwe's near-decade-and-a-half of institutional experience in the seat yet.
The Doctor Who's Been There Since 2013
The driver only gets the car to the scene; what happens next is Dr Ian Roberts' job. A British consultant in emergency medicine and anaesthesia based at Silverstone, Roberts has served as the FIA's Formula 1 Medical Delegate for more than a decade and has now attended over 250 Grands Prix in that role, per his own university's profile of him. He rides in the medical car's passenger seat at every race, and it's his call -- not the driver's -- on what happens once they reach a crashed car: whether a driver can be extracted immediately, what treatment starts trackside, and when to call in the circuit's full medical centre. It's the kind of role that rarely gets airtime on a broadcast, in the same way our F1 marshal guide covers the unpaid volunteers stationed around the rest of the circuit -- both exist specifically so a serious incident gets a trained response in seconds, not minutes.
Why It Follows the Field on the First Lap
Every Grand Prix's highest crash risk comes in the opening seconds, when 20-plus cars funnel into the first braking zone still bunched together from the grid. That's exactly why the medical car doesn't wait in the pits -- it lines up on the grid itself and follows directly behind the field for at least that first lap, close enough to reach almost any point on a first-lap incident list without needing to be scrambled from a standing start. Race Control keeps a dedicated radio channel linking marshal posts, the safety car, the medical car and the circuit's medical centre, and it's that link -- not a fixed route -- that the medical car driver follows once dispatched, including going against the normal direction of travel on a closed section if that's the fastest way in. It's the same coordination layer that puts a Virtual Safety Car on track within moments of a caution being called.
When It Mattered: Grosjean's Bahrain Fire
The clearest example of why any of this matters happened at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix. Romain Grosjean's Haas hit a barrier at 67g, split in two, and burst into flames -- the same crash our halo device guide credits with proving the cockpit protection system's case, since the halo kept the barrier from intruding into Grosjean's helmet space. The medical car reached the wreck within seconds of the impact, and Dr Roberts got out and helped pull Grosjean clear of the fire himself rather than waiting for the wider rescue crew. Grosjean walked away with burns to his hands and a fractured ankle -- an outcome that could have been dramatically worse without both the halo holding and a doctor already on scene. Roberts later received an FIA President's Award specifically for that response, one of the clearest real-world justifications for why the car exists at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who drives the F1 medical car?
Since 2022, medical car duties have been shared between Bruno Correia and Karl Reindler. They took over from Alan van der Merwe, who drove the car for 13 seasons (2009-2021) before being dropped for 2022 under the FIA's Covid-19 vaccination requirement for paddock access.
What car is the F1 medical car in 2026?
For 2026, Mercedes supplies both FIA cars: an AMG GT Black Series as the safety car and a Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S 4MATIC+ as the medical car. It's part of a new full-time Mercedes deal that ends Aston Martin's 2021-2025 run as supplier.
Why does the medical car follow the field on the first lap?
The opening lap carries the highest crash risk of any part of a Grand Prix, with the full field bunched together through the first braking zones. The medical car lines up on the grid and follows behind the pack for at least that first lap so it's already close by if something goes wrong, rather than having to be dispatched from a standing start.
What happened with the medical car during Romain Grosjean's Bahrain crash?
At the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, Grosjean's Haas split apart and burst into flames after a 67g impact. The medical car reached the wreck within seconds, and FIA Medical Delegate Dr Ian Roberts got out and helped pull Grosjean clear of the fire. Roberts later received an FIA President's Award for the response.
The Bottom Line
The medical car spends most of a race weekend doing nothing worth mentioning on team radio, sitting on the grid or trailing the pack, its job invisible right up until the moment it isn't. Behind the wheel it's Correia or Reindler now instead of the 13-year fixture van der Merwe used to be, and starting in 2026 it's a Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S 4MATIC+ instead of the Aston Martin that came before -- but the doctor in the passenger seat, Ian Roberts, and the job itself haven't changed at all. Bahrain 2020 is the proof it works. For the trackside volunteers doing a similar job at every other point on the circuit, read our F1 marshal guide, or browse the team radio archive to hear exactly how fast a call for help actually travels once it leaves the cockpit.