What's all this about?

Just days after Aston Martin revealed its AMR21 challenger for the impending Formula 1 season, now the British company has announced that it has, for the first time ever, become the official Safety and Medical Car provider for the flagship race series. Performing these important duties will be a moderately tuned Vantage as the Safety Car and the DBX SUV as the Medical Car.

Tuned Vantage?

Yes. New Aston Martin boss and former AMG supremo Tobias Moers tasked the engineering team with making the Vantage even more focused on lap times and track performance, so that it can fulfil its important role. It will, as ever, be driven by German Bernd Mayländer, who has been performing F1 Safety Car duties for more than two decades, and because F1 cars' tyres can cool off too much if the pace isn't decent, then there's an extra 25hp in this Vantage to bring peak power from the biturbo 4.0-litre V8 to 535hp overall, with 685Nm of torque - which is the same as the road-going car but the Safety Car version holds onto the figure for longer. Expect 0-60mph in 3.5 seconds, which is... brisk.

Elsewhere, the Vaned grille up front plus a new splitter is said to create 155.6kg of downforce at 124mph, which is 60 kilos more than the production version can muster up. The Safety Car also has modifications to the suspension, steering and dampers, while there's additional underbody bracing to increase the structural rigidity at the front of the car. It comes on the production model's Pirelli road tyres and is fitted with the same carbon-ceramic brakes as the road version, while there are additional brake-cooling ducts hidden in the front grille. Visually, it's in the same colour as the AMR21, which is 2021 Aston Martin Racing Green, with Lime Essence highlights and, of course, the full light bar on the roof and all the relevant decals/radio equipment.

And what about the DBX? Is that tuned too?

No, it runs the standard drivetrain, but as that's 550hp/700Nm from the off and it allows the DBX to hit 62mph from a standstill in 4.5 seconds on the way to 181mph flat out, it's fine enough. It is also finished in 2021 Aston Martin Racing Green paint with Lime accents, while it comes with FIA Medical Car livery, an LED rear number plate and a roof-mounted LED light-bar. Inside, it has to carry a large medical bag, a defibrillator, two fire extinguishers and a burn kit, and its normal seating has been replaced with four individual bucket seats. Both the Vantage Safety Car and the DBX Medical Car have undergone significant track testing at Silverstone, racking up almost 9,300 miles in the process, and they'll be tested in a dyno-climate chamber to ensure they work at all the F1 tracks around the world.

Very cool. Anything else to add?

Just some words from Tobias Moers first of all, who said: "Together with the whole company, I am extremely proud of the Aston Martin brand's return to Formula 1, the pinnacle of motorsport, for the first time in more than 60 years and it represents the start of a significant new era for Aston Martin. To see our acclaimed Vantage, our most dynamic sports car, performing the role of the official Safety Car of Formula 1 and our first SUV, DBX, operate as the Medical Car on Formula 1 circuits around the world is a proud moment for us all."

Mayländer, for his part: added: "Formula 1 fans around the world are delighted to see the return of Aston Martin to the track, as am I. The official Safety Car of F1 is a beautiful, capable car that signifies an exciting new era for Aston Martin."

The Safety Car will be in action from March 12-14, during the three-day pre-season testing at Bahrain, before it appears at the same venue for the first race of the 2021 campaign on Sunday, March 28, for the F1 Bahrain GP. With the greatest respect to Aston Martin, we hope you never have to see the DBX Medical Car on track, for obvious reasons...