<P> The safety car is piloted by professional drivers (since 2000, by Bernd Mayländer) on - board high - powered modified vehicles supplied by Mercedes - Benz, and must maintain a reasonable speed so as to ensure that the competitors' tyres are as close as possible to operating temperature and their engines do not overheat . The driver of the safety car is accompanied by a co-driver to assist with operations and communications . </P> <P> For incidents during the first three laps, the safety car also has an advantage over the traditional red flag; with a red flag, it would take a minimum of fifteen minutes to restart the race, and the two - hour limit would not start until the cars were ready for a second formation lap . With regards to the time limit, the race is being scored and the time is also counting while the safety car is on the track, and the race resumes . </P> <P> The first use of a safety car in Formula One is reported to have taken place at the 1973 Canadian Grand Prix, where a yellow Porsche 914 was called for duty following various incidents under treacherous weather conditions . Controversially, on that occasion, it took several hours after the race to figure out the winner and final results since the safety car driver had placed his car in front of the wrong competitor thus causing part of the field to be one lap down incorrectly . </P> <P> The sport officially introduced safety cars in 1993, after trials were conducted at both the French and British Grands Prix during the preceding 1992 season . Since 1996, as part of promotional arrangements, the supplier of safety cars has been Mercedes - Benz, unlike previous years that have seen cars of different brands being used throughout the season and depending on the track visited (for example, the exotic Lamborghini Countach for the Monaco Grand Prix in the 1980s to the more mundane Fiat Tempra used at the rain - affected 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix and the high performance version of the Opel Vectra used at the infamous 1994 San Marino Grand Prix). </P>

When was the safety car introduced in formula 1 races