Image of F1 safety car crashing ahead of the Italian GP goes viral

Images of a crashed F1 safety car at Monza recently went viral on social media. This crash happened on Thursday, August 29, a day before the Italian GP. Safety cars are essentially sports cars driven by experienced drivers to inspect all the safety measures around the track.

These cars are also deployed on the track whenever there is a major crash. They then police the speed of F1 cars by driving in front of them while the crashed car and driver, along with track marshalls, are safely off the track.

Before a Grand Prix, safety cars and even medical cars usually do trial runs around the track to check for any issues, and the 2024 Italian GP was no exception. One of the safety cars at Monza was driven by Bernd Maylander, who has been driving safety cars for quite some time now.

Recently, pictures of a safety car crashed into the barrier situated at the Parabolica turn at Monza emerged on social media.

According to Dutch journalist, Erik van Haren, the crashed car was of Bernd Maylander himself. At the time of writing, Van Haren's X post had over seven hundred likes and 30 comments within an hour.

Another Spanish motorsport journalist posted pictures of the crash, getting even more traction on X. At the time of writing, his post has garnered over 4000 likes and 50 comments.

The Italian GP will be held between August 30 and September 1. It will be the second race after F1's summer break and the 16th race in the 2024 F1 season.

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Kimi Antonelli delighted to make his F1 debut in front of his home crowd at the Italian GP

Mercedes recently announced that their junior driver, Kimi Antonelli, will replace George Russell at FP1 in the 2024 F1 Italian GP. The youngster will also take part in his usual F2 Italian GP race weekend.

Antonelli has been rumored to be one of the top candidates to replace Lewis Hamilton in Silver Arrows as the latter moves to Ferrari in 2025. Hence, Monza's practice session would be crucial for the young Italian.

In Mercedes' official press release, he expressed his happiness to finally get the opportunity to drive in F1 for a practice session. He was also happy that he would be doing so at his home GP in Italy.

"Taking part in my first FP1 is going to be really special. I'm really excited to drive the W15 and share the track with so many amazing drivers. I can't wait for it! Making my F1 session debut in front of my home crowd too is incredible. I'm looking forward to learning a lot but also helping contribute to the team's weekend," Antonelli said.

As of now, the F2 driver will only be driving the first practice session at Monza before George Russell takes back the reigns in FP2.