F1 Safety Car Crashes Ahead Of Italian Grand Prix

The F1 safety car is usually meant to restore order after drivers wipe out, but it was on the other end of that at Monza on Thursday ... when it spun out and crashed during test laps.

The wild moment happened ahead of the Italian Grand Prix ... when the Aston Martin was zooming around the track to make sure everything was good to go for the weekend's festivities.

At one point in the test run, driver Bernd Maylander was cruising at a high speed when he appeared to lose control of his vehicle at the famous Alboreto curve.

The expensive Vantage F1 Edition whip then hit the gravel trap and into the tire barrier.

Thankfully ... despite the scary scene, both Maylander and the passenger were uninjured in the wreck.

FIA -- F1's governing body -- released a statement on the mishap ... saying, "There was an on-track incident with the FIA safety car today at Monza."

"Aston Martin is investigating the cause but can confirm both driver and passenger are fine."

The FIA added there's another safety car on location ... and practices, qualifying and the race will not be affected by the accident.