It’s been over a month since the British Grand Prix took place at Silverstone, and it seems to be the talk of social media still. Especially the number 564,000. 

Over half a million people were in attendance over the four days of the Grand Prix, with the event feeling closer to a festival than anything else, but there is a different number that we want to talk about. 

1,050. 

It’s a significantly lower number than half a million, but carries with it a large amount of weight.  

That number refers to the number of volunteers who are part of the event and ensure that the racing can happen at all. From incident and flag marshals, to post chiefs, pit and start line marshals, rescue units, fire and recovery personnel, and many more. 

All of whom gave up their time to ensure that a multi-billion pound sport could happen and entertain an audience worldwide.  

These volunteers had also come from all over the globe to be part of this event, with nations such as Brazil, the Netherlands, Singapore, USA, and even Australia (just to name a few) all represented at Silverstone.   

It may surprise you, therefore, that our favourite part of the weekend wasn’t necessarily the racing – although the Lego race was an exceptionally good laugh – but rather the people that we met along the way, and all the unique stories that people had as to why they were attending the British Grand Prix.  

The British Grand Prix The People Make It

It has already been mentioned that the variety of people that you meet plays a big factor in our enjoyment of this event. But the bigger question is, why? 

You meet so many people from different backgrounds, some you may never see again, and others you may become lifelong friends with.  

We got the opportunity to speak to a lot of them, though if we listed everything we spoke about then this article would have to become a novel. The general feeling was that everyone was happy to be at the F1 and that being part of such a big event was a buzz.  

For some, it was their 30th consecutive British Grand Prix weekend, having started when Michael Schumacher was just a two-time world champion, and most of the current grid weren’t born, let alone racing karts.  

And for others, it was a bucket list trip, a once in a life time experience that they will probably never do again. Travelling from Australia to Silverstone takes a serious amount of time, money, and dedication. 

As marshals, we are thrust together in one campsite and it seems like every way that you turn, you bump into someone you know, or someone you have spent a day on post with, or even simply someone you have never met before who just gives you a friendly hello.  

Because of the campsite, you often find that the socialising spills over from the race track to the evenings and vice-versa. In fact, there are many marshals that we know that find the social side of the event is why they keep coming back, rather than the racing itself.  

Add on top of this our deep love and passion for motorsport, and for many of us F1 is how we all fell in love with the sport, it becomes a huge weekend where everyone can be themselves and hang out with their extended orange family.  

This is all, of course, if they are lucky enough to get there. So, you may be wondering how do you become a marshal at the F1? Or you may be asking What Is A Marshal?

A year-round effort   

Have you ever wondered, how do I marshal the British Grand Prix? Well, this is your straight answer – with a lot of time and commitment.  

Volunteering to be a marshal at the F1 isn’t open to anyone. And for those that volunteering is open to, there are requirements that you have to meet as well.  

For starters we need to be registered with the country’s ASN (Autorité Sportive Nationale). In our case, that’s Motorsport UK. We then have to be minimum Grade One to show that we have had a level of training, experience, and competency to marshal a high profile event like the F1. 

Once we are Grade One, we have to complete a minimum of 12 days in the last calendar year to apply, and it is preferable if those 12 days are in the desired discipline (incident, flag, pits, paddock, post chief, etc) that we would like to volunteer for at the F1.  

This process takes a lot of time to complete, with many hours being given to wider motorsport at grassroots levels like club racing. To apply for the 2026 edition of the British Grand Prix, we gave up 14 weekends to go marshalling, roughly 300 hours of commitment, and even then there was no guarantee that we would get a spot – we would go into a ballot and wait to see if we were lucky enough to be chosen.  

In Summary   

The British Grand Prix is a growing spectacle year on year, and we are very fortunate enough to be involved in it. Each year, we hope that we can return as, like many others, we try to view the grand prix as a reward for our efforts the previous year. It is an event like no other, and one to treat as a unique experience during the marshalling year. 

If you are considering marshalling the grand prix, and meet the requirements necessary to do so, then we would highly recommend applying for the 2027 edition. Who knows, we may even see you there.