Here’s how to become a Formula 1 race marshal

There are a lot of different ways race fans can immerse themselves in motorsport. They might spend their life savings on race tickets, could pursue a career somewhere within the world of racing or, instead, can choose to volunteer as a marshal.

Marshals are the lifeblood of global motorsport, with dedicated teams of volunteers on hand at racetracks around the world to keep the racing action running. From flagging to scrutineering, volunteer marshals carry out all kinds of work on the sidelines in series like Formula 1.

“It’s just a fantastic way to get close to motorsport,” says Sam Walker, volunteer development manager at Motorsport UK and marshal at racetracks across the UK.

“For most people, marshalling is to give something back and it’s actually something that’s highly rewarding as a hobby. It’s not easy work sometimes, but we do it for the love of the sport.”

Walker was a die-hard race fan growing up and started marshalling at his local circuit in 2013. He initially volunteered at Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb in Worcester, the UK, but the love for motorsport quickly grew.  

“It’s almost an addiction,” he says. “I would do it every weekend with my family, in between school and obviously prioritising education, but the weekends were definitely set aside for going away racing.”  

Training on the job 

The first step to making the move from avid race fan to dedicated safety marshal is to reach out to a local club or circuit, explains Sue Fletcher, volunteer lead at Motorsport UK. Then, it’s a case of registering with a local motorsport governing body and, for marshals in the UK, completing an online course to get to grips with the basics. 

“There is an online module that you complete first of all, which gives you a bit of background about marshalling,” explains Fletcher.  

“There are other [training] modules you can complete. But most training is actually on the job, when you are actually marshalling on post or if you’re more interested in doing start line, pits, or rallying or karting.”  

And there are a lot of different marshalling roles out there. Volunteers at racetracks across the UK carry out work covering flagging, pitlane safety, rescue work, timekeeping in rally stages and even marshalling the crowds who attend a race.  

In order to specialise in different areas, there are training modules that must be kept up to date online, and experience at a race weekend can see volunteers rise through the marshalling ranks.  

“Uniquely for us, in the UK we have the Marshals Pathway, we call it, and it’s a structured system,” explains Walker.

“Marshals, when they first enter the sport, they’re a Registered Marshal, that’s what we call them, and they’re accredited by having done the online course. Then from that point there’s three levels, as it were, three grades that they work towards.

“They complete the training that we ask them to do. There’s in-person training, there’s some online training, and then just the day-to-day experience of actually going out and doing it – that counts towards an upgrade to what we call Grade One, there’s Grade Two and then Grade Three, as you get more and more experienced.”

The training for marshals has evolved with motorsport, and now includes modules covering electric vehicle safety and alternative fuel sources. Rescue modules were also updated with the introduction of the halo.  

More than 15 days marshalling 

As well as completing these assessments, moving through the ranks of marshalling also requires accruing a set number of days experience – with 15 days being the minimum to move to Grade One. Once graded at this level, marshals can apply to work at top-tier events like the Formula 1 British Grand Prix or races at Goodwood.  

“The busier meetings, they’ll look for more experienced people,” adds Fletcher. “Because to put somebody that’s brand new onto a track when it’s really busy and it might be televised, it’s not fair on the marshal.”

But if you think you’ve got time to register as a marshal, accrue 15 days’ experience and get yourself down to Silverstone for this year’s race, then I’m afraid I have bad news. The spots for this year’s grand prix are already filled as Formula 1 events often take applications for F1 marshals months in advance.

“You apply the year before, so it’s normally about October, November,” says Fletcher. “You have to list the events that you’ve marshalled at, and they have to be race events. Then, there is a selection panel at the start of the year.

“This is all the chiefs from all the different areas, and they will look at the people that have applied. In my case, I’ve been doing it since 2012.”

Fletcher says she will marshal her 14th British Grand Prix this year, plus she also worked at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix in the disrupted 2020 season. Over these events, she worked as an incident marshal, joined the rescue team at Silverstone, volunteered in the paddock and now works as a scrutineer in F1.

“People start as an incident marshal on the bank for their first grand prix. Then, as they go up, they start flagging, they might change to light boxes, and then they’ll go on to being a post chief once graded” she explains.

The work of a marshal at the GP begins on the Thursday, with volunteers descending on the British circuit to locate their camping pitch for the weekend and signing in for the race. Some will then head to the track to oversee high speed tests with the safety and medical cars, which can also offer a first glimpse at the drivers as they scout out the track.

From Friday, almost every marshal is on post, which can involve covering track inspections, the running of various course cars and, of course, the F1 practice sessions ahead of the weekend’s action.

This year’s event features the F1 sessions, as well as F2, F3 and British F4.  And while that might sound like a lot of racing, Fletcher says that without the Porsche Supercup racing over the weekend as well, it leads to a “lot of downtime” at the track.

“For some people, they want to have a full day of back-to-back races – like you might have at Castle Coombe from, you know, 8:30 in the morning till they finish at 6 or something,” she says. “At the British Grand Prix, that’s not the case.

“However, it’s such an amazing event. There’s nothing quite like it and you have the Red Arrows on the Sunday, you have F1 drivers driving historic cars. And on the marshal’s campsite in the evening, there’s all the social side. It’s something very special.”

When it comes to her standout moments at the event, Fletcher highlights the back-to-back grands prix in 2020, when Silverstone hosted the British Grand Prix and F1’s 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. The lack of fans at the track and the tight-knit community of marshals on hand at both races made the flagship sporting event feel “like a very small club meeting.”

“We were segregated from everybody out on the tracks, so there were two campsites – one for everybody in the paddocks, and then the people working out on the track,” she explains.

“It was quite surreal with the fact that, normally on the Sunday, you’ll go out on track for the driver’s parade, and of course there was no driver’s parade since there were no spectators.

“We then just sort of said, ‘oh, see you next week,’ And I think I left the campsite on the Monday and was back on the campsite on the Wednesday for the following meeting.

“It was very much like a club meeting; we sort of forgot that it was the British Grand Prix.”

Volunteering in marshal roles across the UK led both Fletcher and Walker to their full-time roles with Motorsport UK, and the pair also knows of others who kickstarted their motorsport careers as marshals – including people who now work as officials at races and others who work as engineers for different race teams.

And while not everyone will head out to volunteer in search of a full-time career, working as a marshal can scratch a motorsport itch while offering up the best seat in the house that you can find.