Many drivers have come and left their mark in the Formula 1 world. But when it was Lewis Hamilton‘s time to shine, none even came close to matching him. They succumbed to his expertise in an F1 car and as he got better, so did his car. Prime Lewis Hamilton plus Prime Mercedes is a combination that even future drivers wouldn’t want to face. But then there was one, the sport’s unsung hero, who nonchalantly not only kept Hamilton behind him during his entire career but continues to do so.

Have you ever wondered who drives the safety car? For the last 25 years, it has been the same man who is responsible for bringing a sense of calm to a chaotic situation. Bernd Maylander, a former German racer currently drives the Aston Martin and Mercedes safety cars. With this huge responsibility of maintaining safety also comes the pressure of handling the F1 drivers’ comments. You might have heard Hamilton, who was a frequent customer in P1 behind the safety car mentioning on his team radio that the safety car is too slow and it needs to go faster. Despite all this, Maylander remains unfazed and keeps his head down to do his job.

Maylander told NOS, as quoted by f1maximaal, “I know the character of all the riders. I don’t care if it’s Lewis (Hamilton, ed.), Max (Verstappen, ed.), or Fernando (Alonso, ed.). I don’t feel any pressure. At the end of the day, we’re a family: ten teams, twenty drivers, one circus. They are fighting for the world title, I am fighting for their safety.”

He further elaborated to say how Hamilton was the trendsetter of such a seemingly odd trend: “When I started, they were still pretty quiet. Lewis Hamilton was the first to start pushing. Of course, we also have conflicting interests. I want to slow down so that the marshals on the track can do their work quietly. Drivers always want to go faster.”

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These comments by Maylander show just how much of a menace Hamilton is to have in your rearview mirrors. But the German safety car driver can handle the situation better now than he did in the past.

Bernd Maylander brands Lewis Hamilton as the toughest customer ever behind the safety car

2020 was an entirely different situation for Bernd Maylander. While performing his duties after unfortunate incidents on the racetrack, he had drivers like Michael Schumacher, Max Verstappen, and Sebastian Vettel in his rearview mirrors. But according to him, none of them gave him the same headache that Lewis Hamilton did.

Maylander said on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast in 2020, “I have to say sometimes it’s quite difficult with Lewis behind me because he’s always pushing, he’s accelerating, he’s braking, he’s driving really zig-zag. Sometimes he’s getting very close to the car. I’m not sure if he wants to push me, because he knows it. That’s his driving style.”

Who knew that the 7-time champion didn’t even let a safety car drive in peace? Now you can imagine what his rivals had to go through when he was dominating the sport – constant and immense pressure.

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