Aussie racer lands major role in Formula 1

A lifetime of high-speed competition and motorsport safety work has landed a dream drive for an Australian racing driver.

Australian racer Karl Reindler will drive the Aston Martin DBX medical car.

Two Australian racing drivers will line up on the Albert Park grid for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.

Former Supercars racer Karl Reindler will join McLaren star Daniel Ricciardo for the start of the race in Melbourne.

Aston Martin DBX medical car.

Ricciardo will race for a place on the podium, while Reindler will race to the scene of any serious accidents on the circuit, driving an Aston Martin DBX medical support car.

“When the red lights go out at the start of the race, it is on,” he said.

“You’re not dawdling. You’re driving at qualifying pace.

“You are there to be first on scene at any serious incident – every second does count when there is a situation like that.”

Reindler survived a fiery crash at Barbargallo Raceway, north of Perth.

Reindler raced against the likes of F1 world champions Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg in junior formulae early in his career before moving home to race in Australian V8s.

He took on the Bathurst 1000 nine times, and has tackled Albert Park in a variety of machinery including Supercars and Porsche Carrera Cup race cars.

Reindler (left) was initially trapped inside his burning race car. .

Reindler’s career took a turn in 2011, when his Holden Supercar stalled on the grid at Perth’s Barbagallo raceway.

Fellow racer Steve Owen slammed into the back of Reindler’s stricken car, rupturing its fuel tank.

Reindler suffered serious burns and was lucky to escape the burning wreck.

“That was a frightening moment,” he said.

The experienced race car driver required the help of on-site medical teams, a service he will now deliver to F1 racers.

“That could have been a very different outcome for me. I had a police escort to the local hospital, and skin grafts, and several months of recovery.

“I really felt this desire off the back of it to improve safety in the sport at every level.”

Retiring from full-time competition, Reindler took on roles with organisations such as Motorsport Australia, Porsche and Motorsport Safety Rescue to help make racing safer.

It led to a call-up replacing regular medical response drivers Alan van der Merwe and Bruno Correia at this week’s race.

Aston Martin’s DBX medical car is an impressive machine.

Reindler’s safety driving talent and safety expertise will combine with the medical prowess of Formula 1 doctor Ian Roberts.

Their medical car – and its back-up machine is loaded with radios, a car-tracking system, and medical gear including a defibrillator, equipment to help drivers breathe following a serious incident, and emergency burns dressings that proved vital when Romain Grosjean had a serious crash in Bahrain in 2020.

Haas F1's French driver Romain Grosjean was rescued by the medical car crew following an enormous crash in 2020. Photo: Tolga Bozoglu / AFP

Preparation for this week’s role included high-speed driving behind the wheel of the twin-turbocharged V8-powered machine, and practice runs from the racetrack to on-site medical facilities.

Reindler said the Aston Martin was an impressive machine.

“The V8 sounds amazing,” he said.

“You can’t help but be excited.

“You’re there to do a job but you’re doing it with a smile on your face.

“I always hope that it’s a quiet day in the office. But we are there and we will be ready.”