Working at Silverstone for the Formula One

The past couple of years now i have worked for a traffic management company at Silverstone Circuit. For most of the events i am lucky enough to be working in places where i can see part of the track and some of the event.

The first year at F1 i was a bit lost and didn't fully understand how i had ended up where i did. However on the second year being more experienced i was able to fully make the most of my situation and managed to work in the drivers car park, VIP gate to the pits and control who enters the Mercedes hospitality suite.

As you can imagine i got to see, meet and talk to alot of important people that week and i would like to share my experiences.

During the set up week i had full access which meant on my brakes i could have a walk around and see the behind the scenes of the entire process. The amount of people, time and effort that goes into these events is unbelievable, watching the 100's of lorries pull in each bringing different parts and some unfolding like transformers and after a day of building becoming housing for the teams. One by one these lorries would arrive and be built up turning a big empty concrete space into a packed, bright, colorful never resting street filled with celebrities, drivers and cameras to name a few.

During the weekend i realised i was being paid to stand in places that costs 1,000's of pounds to be in so i had to make the most of it. I got free cooked breakfasts from the tv suites, ice creams and fizzy drinks from Mercedes hospitality staff and when in the drivers car park i got to meet and speak to a few including Riccardo, Verstappen and Alonso and have brief interactions with the others.

Whether you are interested in Motorsports or not if you ever get the chance to go to an event such as the F1 i would highly recommend it, and if you can see the behind the scenes/hospitality areas you will be just as amazed at the operation as i was. The amount of work and time that goes into these events is unimaginable and the commitment that the staff put into the sport is outstanding.

For an extra bit of perspective the teams had finished the race in Austria on Sunday and the first team lorries started arriving in the early hours of Tuesday morning and by mid day on Wednesday everything had arrived been unpacked, build and was fully functioning ready for a 'chilled' thursday before Free Practice started on Friday.

Here are a couple of videos of the cars on track from my point of view, the top one is where i was working and the second video is from when i was on lunch break.