Why is F1 safety car orange at the British Grand Prix?

You’ve seen green. You’ve seen red. Now the F1 safety car will make its debut in orange for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday.

Mercedes announced at the start of the week that the logo on the nose of their W16 will sport a gleaming orange design, to celebrate F1's 75th anniversary at the home of the sport’s first championship race - Silverstone.

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The colour orange was chosen to represent the famous Mercedes C111 vehicles from the 1960s and 70s, and the recently launched CONCEPT AMG GT XX.

However the W16 is not the only vehicle subject to changes this weekend, with F1 also confirming that the safety car will be given a tangerine touch-up for the British GP.

Why is the safety car orange?

F1 has two different safety cars in 2025, with Aston Martin Vantage used for 12 rounds, while the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series will be used for the other 12 rounds of the season.

Bernd Maylander will get behind the wheel of the Mercedes this weekend at Silverstone, but it will not sport the classic bright red colour scheme viewers have become accustomed to in 2025.

Instead, a bright orange special edition of the safety car will run at the British GP – officially called ‘Sunset Beam Orange’ – to celebrate the launch of the coincidentally orange CONCEPT AMG GT XX.

Orange accents will feature on the three-pointed stars on the Mercedes nose and engine cover, driver overalls, where both George Russell and Kimi Antonelli will run special helmets incorporating the orange hues into its design.

Sky F1 pundit Ted Kravitz cynically suggested that the change was ‘essentially a marketing campaign for a posh car that Mercedes are doing’ during his Qualifying Notebook show on Saturday night - but the new CONCEPT AMG GT XX is undoubtedly impressive.

The new car can reach top speeds of more than 360 km/h and pays homage to Mercedes’ past by emulating the 1960s and 70s Mercedes C111 in its design.

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