Yes, that's right, it's a race between the Safety Cars and the Medical Cars at the 2006 USGP! 

Okay, no, it's not.  It just looks like it.  See, every time F1 goes to a circuit, the drivers of the Safety and Medical cars have to know the layout of the course.  The Medical Car in particular has to know the fastest way around the circuit... a driver's life may depend on it.

So, they get their own practice session... and boy, you gotta love their noise!  Those V8s sound like what a race car should sound like, all full of grunt and growl.

Oh, and in case you're wondering?  The lap record at the Indy roval is 1:10.339, set by Rubens Barrichello in 2004 in the Ferrari F2004, which had a V10 in the back... and was a frickin' F1 car, not a hopped-up street vehicle.

I'd say a 1:59 and change is pretty good, all things considered.

1

Those guys are drifting just a bit around some of those corners. Pretty good drivers, I must say; doing a controlled drift like that really can shave your time.

And like you say, when it comes to medical cars they really need to know the track.

2 The driver of the safety car is named Bernd Maylander.  He's been the safety car driver since 2000, and before that he was a successful Touring Car racer himself.  He's only missed one race, the 2001 Canadian Grand Prix (injury), since then.

At the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix he led 20 laps in a pouring rain.  That's more than Force India has in its entire existence.