The safety car has played a big part in F1 for many years and has contributed to the increased safety of the sport. The safety car is usually called out if the track is waterlogged or there is heavy rain or if there has been a serious accident or there is debris on the road.
In Formula One they also have a virtual safety car, introduced in 2015, which means that the physical car (which is currently a Mercedes GT S driven by Bernd Maylander, a former successful touring-car racer) does not go out on track but the drivers must reduce their speed and stay above a minimum time set by the FIA at least once in each marshalling sector.
The downside of the safety car for competing drivers is that it usually closes up any gaps between the cars meaning if one driver had a 10 second lead he will almost certainly lose that gap following a lap of the safety car.
