The wait for a 2021 Belgian Grand Prix that was postponed forever was highly criticized by a large majority of fans, the event never took place and boredom was the main protagonist of that Sunday, however, there was one person who was very busy .
That’s Formula 1 medical car driver Alan van der Merwe . He and Safety Car driver Bernd Maylander completed more laps than all F1 drivers as they regularly took to the track to assess whether the tarmac conditions were right to allow the start of the long-awaited race. race.
All of that is part of your job; transporting F1 medical rescue personnel to incidents that have been happening on the track since 2009, an idea that came from an impromptu meeting with then-F1 racing director Charlie Whiting at Heathrow.
“I drew attention to some very strange things on social media,” van der Merwe told GP Racing. “Sometimes I’d do little skids on the track and they’d quickly put that up on Reddit or YouTube. Most of the time we were anonymous, but it didn’t take much to get noticed.”
Normally, the South African’s job every F1 weekend entails “a lot of waiting” as the FIA has worked hard to “try to mitigate or completely avoid” accidents.
Van der Merwe and his important companion, Dr. Ian Roberts , remain at the ready inside the medical vehicle during each session. That also applies to the support categories, at a time when most F1 drivers are still eating breakfast.
It’s a claustrophobic environment where you have to spend long periods of time on high alert, and the intercom system between them is so sensitive that they can even hear each other’s breathing.
“It’s a bit counterintuitive that we put so much preparation into things that are less and less likely to happen because of other efforts we’re doing at the same time,” the former BAR F1 test driver explained.
“It’s a long time preparing and waiting to be called up for something that may never happen. So every once in a while we get the call for something that is genuinely novel. his family”.
The importance of the medical car was highlighted at the 2020 Bahrain GP following Romain Grosjean’s brutal accident. The first to arrive on the scene, along with fire extinguisher-wielding Circuit Officer Thayer Ali Taher , was Roberts , who helped Grosjean escape from the Haas. Not far behind was van der Merwe , who doused the couple with the fire extinguisher he had grabbed from the trunk of the car as Grosjean staggered out of the fire.
That rescue brought them a considerable amount of attention, which van der Merwe prefers to shy away from, but admits it was an “incredibly positive” experience that underscores Roberts ‘ competence and bravery.
“I’ve never liked being the center of attention,” says van der Merwe. “I like to be quite anonymous, but it was great that Ian got the recognition he deserves. He’s been working on this kind of thing for decades, he puts a lot of involvement into it. And it was good for people to see that we’re not just there to show off.” “.
“But one thing that the people of Bahrain probably didn’t understand is that we didn’t actually have to do our job there, we didn’t do anything, we literally just showed up. If things hadn’t gone so well, people would have seen what it’s really like. capable someone like Ian, with so much experience and courage.
“It was nice to see the work get recognized as it sometimes feels a bit pointless because you never get used to it, but that time it all came together.”
Van der Merwe explains that a key part of the job is getting the equipment ready and keeping it running as consistently and reliably as possible. This includes the biometric gloves worn by all F1 drivers, an innovation that Roberts and van der Merwe were instrumental in developing, which give Roberts a clear indication of the drivers pulse rate and blood oxygen levels, as well as detecting motion to let you know what you might find when you arrive at the scene.”
Those preparations vary depending on the location, the experience level of the staff and the medical car van der Merwe is driving. Mercedes and Aston Martin now share duties and each have “slightly different curves where they’re still apart in terms of the car being where they want it to be”. In fact, the Thursday of each GP is used for testing circuit systems, exploring the limits of the track and also helping with car development.
The actual driving, of course, is also of vital importance. Calling on the “experience you can really only get doing cold testing at Pembrey in an F3 car”, van der Merwe must have “incredible confidence in all conditions”, as well as being acutely aware of what is going on around him. given the huge difference in pace between the F1 cars and the medical car, so he has to drive to the max.”
“The reason Charlie wanted people with F1 experience is because he knew the delta between an F1 car and a road car is more than a minute a lap,” he says. “If you’re learning in this job, you’ll probably have some kind of accident.”
That strong performance translates into confidence that helps Roberts , who doesn’t fear for his life at every turn. Van der Merwe describes the relationship between the two as “as good as it gets”.
“I know I can trust Ian if things really go downhill,” says van der Merwe. “I think we complement each other pretty well.”
However, relationships with pilots cannot be taken for granted. Having been in the paddock for more than a decade, van der Merwe is a familiar face to most, “whether it’s because they see me in the garage from time to time, whether we’ve picked them up for something or whether we’ve really helped them. to get them out from under the barriers”.
“It’s a tight-knit community and some riders know us better than others,” he says. “I get along with all of them, but we’re all here to do a job, so sometimes our interactions are very brief.”
“I’d like to think they appreciate us being there, but I don’t really care if they don’t because I didn’t think about it myself when I was racing.”
“Some are more aware than others of safety efforts and where improvement is needed, and they can raise questions during driver meetings and that’s where we build our relationships. We know it’s never going to be perfect, but it’s important that teams and the drivers know that we are constantly giving our best.”
Not all of his interactions with pilots follow an incident of Grosjean ‘s severity. As a drill “to kick-start the system”, van der Merwe is sent to pick up drivers during practice if they experience a breakdown that causes a red flag.
“We’re a bit like a taxi, but we do it mainly to keep the teams and drivers happy, to see that we’re doing the best we can and that they don’t just have the ability to walk or scooter away,” he says.
Van der Merwe recalled how an emotional Sergio Pérez awaited him after his victory in Baku when he stopped on track during his lap on the way to the pits. But he acknowledged that not all pilots are so delighted to see him.
“Sometimes they want to chat, sometimes they don’t,” says van der Merwe . “Most of the time when they get in the car they’re still in race mode and it’s like the end of the world. They may have crashed in qualifying and think their weekend is already ruined.”
“It’s interesting,” he sums up. “It’s probably a bit like an Uber driver who meets all kinds of funny characters during the day.”
