Volunteers Save F1 Millions

The FIA has released a comprehensive report on the role of volunteers in Formula 1, providing for the first time an assessment of their contribution to the organisation of race weekends.

According to the study, an average of approximately 838 volunteers are required for each event, amounting to more than 20,000 individuals over the course of a season. The training and deployment of these personnel cost FIA member clubs around $12.9 million.

The report further indicates that replacing volunteers with full-time paid staff would be significantly more expensive, by approximately $15.5 million annually.

The FIA has highlighted the increasing demands placed on participants and the need for a more sustainable system. The organisation already invests several hundred thousand dollars annually in official training programmes and plans to expand these initiatives, including the establishment of a dedicated stewarding training centre.