Mayländer’s three laps are a breathtaking display of on-limit control, interspersed with savage acceleration and ferocious braking.
Commitment like this is essential when there are 20 F1 cars looming in his rear-view mirror, he says: “Especially when there’s debris on the track, the drivers don’t always know and maybe get frustrated because I’m holding them back. I try not to, but safety comes first.”
Back at the garage, he describes how, on race day, he and long-serving co-driver, Richard Darker, will have been strapped into their Vantage at the pit exit with the engine running for at least 10 minutes before the start.
“You feel the tension,” he says. Among recent races, the Australian Grand Prix stands out. “The rain was extreme and we had a few deployments and did 13 laps in total.
In such conditions, you need a communicative car like the Vantage that lets you know where the track is drying out, which we report to the race director.”
Meanwhile, poised at the back of the grid ready to deploy during the race’s critical opening lap, is the F1 medical car. It’s here at Stowe today – an Aston Martin DBX 707, one of two that have been in service since 2023.
