The sport officially introduced safety cars in , after trials were conducted at both the French and British Grands Prix during the preceding season. Since 1996, as part of promotional arrangements, the main supplier of safety cars has been Mercedes-Benz, with Aston Martin sharing the duties with them from 2021, 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 and the Lamborghini Diablo for the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix 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).