Who Are F1 Marshals? Their Jobs, Pay & How to Become One
You'll never hear a marshal on team radio, but almost everything a race engineer reacts to — a yellow flag, a stopped car, a safety car call — starts with one. Roughly 800 of them work a typical Grand Prix weekend, and none of them get a paycheck for it. Here's who they actually are, what each role does trackside, and how someone becomes one.
F1 Marshals by the Numbers
- 838 volunteers: the average number working each Grand Prix weekend in the FIA's 2025 report, the majority of them marshals.
- 20,112: the total volunteer workforce required to run the full 24-race calendar for a season.
- 48 hours: the average time a volunteer works across a single race weekend.
- €11.1 million: the FIA's estimated annual cost to recruit and train that volunteer workforce.
- 18: the minimum age to marshal at Formula 1 level, alongside a minimum of a year's prior marshaling experience.
- 2001: the year trackside marshal Graham Beveridge was killed at the Australian Grand Prix, struck by a wheel that broke loose from a crashing car.
What Do F1 Marshals Actually Do?
"Marshal" isn't one job — it's a set of distinct roles spread around every circuit, each with its own post and its own responsibility. Per Autosport's breakdown of the role, the main jobs are:
| Role | What They Do |
|---|---|
| Trackside marshals | Remove damaged or stalled cars and clear debris from the racing line |
| Flag marshals | Signal drivers with yellow, green, blue and checkered flags from their post |
| Pit marshals | Enforce the pit lane speed limit and manage incidents in the pit lane |
| Startline marshals | Confirm correct grid positioning and clear the grid before the formation lap |
| Paddock marshals | Manage access and organize the assembly areas behind the scenes |
| Administrative marshals | Coordinate communication between the individual trackside posts and race control |
The flag marshals are the ones most fans have actually seen without realizing it — every yellow, blue or checkered flag covered in our F1 flags guide is being waved by hand at a trackside post, not triggered automatically. And when a hazard is serious enough to need a full caution, it's marshals on the ground who report it and marshals who need protecting while the field slows — which is the entire reason the Virtual Safety Car exists in the first place.
Are F1 Marshals Paid?
No — and this is the part that surprises most casual fans. Marshals are volunteers, not FIA employees or paid contractors. Per Autosport's own reporting, some race promoters offer vouchers, meals or a small monetary token to cover expenses, but that varies from event to event and isn't a wage in any real sense. The FIA's own 2025 volunteer report puts a number on the scale of that unpaid effort: 20,112 volunteers working a combined 965,376 hours across the season, with roughly two-thirds of them taking annual leave or unpaid time off their regular jobs to be there. The FIA estimated the labour value of that work at €13.2 million a year — money nobody on a marshal post actually receives.
How Do You Become an F1 Marshal?
You don't apply straight to Formula 1. Marshaling starts at a national club — the British Motorsports Marshals Club is the standard route in the UK — where new marshals train and work lower-level club and national races first. Clubs run their own grading system based on experience, and per Autosport, reaching F1-level generally requires being at least 18 years old, having marshaled for at least a year already, and having performed your specific role for a set minimum number of days in the previous season. Selection is run by the clubs themselves, and not every applicant who wants an F1 post gets one — demand for the small number of spots at a Grand Prix weekend outstrips supply.
Has an F1 Marshal Ever Been Killed on the Job?
Yes, and it's a real part of why some of the car safety rules covered elsewhere on this site exist. At the 2001 Australian Grand Prix, Jacques Villeneuve's BAR launched into the air after running into the back of Ralf Schumacher's car, shedding wheels and bodywork as it cartwheeled along the barrier. One of those wheels flew through a gap in the trackside fencing and struck 52-year-old trackside marshal Graham Beveridge, who died from his injuries; 11 spectators were also hurt by flying debris. An investigation afterward concluded the accident could have been prevented, and it's part of the case history behind the modern wheel tether rules that now keep a wheel physically attached to the car even when everything else about a crash goes wrong. It's a sobering reminder that even with a halo and wheel tethers protecting the driver, the people standing closest to the action are still the volunteers at the trackside posts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are F1 marshals paid?
No. F1 marshals are volunteers, not paid FIA or team staff. Some race promoters offer vouchers, meals or a small stipend to cover expenses, but per Autosport's own reporting on marshal pay, that varies by event and isn't a wage.
How many marshals work an F1 race?
An FIA report found an average of 838 volunteers, the majority of them marshals, work each Grand Prix weekend, adding up to a 20,112-strong workforce across the 24-race calendar. Those volunteers put in an average of 48 hours per race weekend.
How do you become an F1 marshal?
You start at a national marshal club, such as the British Motorsports Marshals Club, and work up through grades at lower-level events. Per Autosport, reaching F1-level marshaling typically requires being at least 18 years old and having at least a year of marshaling experience, including a minimum number of days performed in your specific role over the prior season.
Has an F1 marshal ever been killed on the job?
Yes. Trackside marshal Graham Beveridge was killed at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix when a wheel that broke loose from Jacques Villeneuve's crashing BAR flew through a gap in the trackside fencing and struck him. The FIA tightened wheel tether rules in the years that followed.
The Bottom Line
Every yellow flag, every stopped car pulled clear, every Virtual Safety Car period starts with a volunteer at a trackside post who isn't getting paid for the job. The scale is easy to miss from a TV broadcast — 838 people on an average weekend, more than 20,000 across a season — and so is the risk, which the 2001 loss of Graham Beveridge made permanently clear. For the safety systems built partly in response to incidents like that one, see our wheel tethers guide and our breakdown of what every F1 flag means, the signal marshals are actually waving when the cameras cut trackside. The FIA applies the same no-exceptions approach to team personnel, too — our pit wall explainer covers the 2023 rule that stopped teams from climbing the pit wall fence to celebrate. Marshals aren't the only trained response on site, either — our F1 medical car guide covers the doctor and driver who follow the field from the grid specifically to reach a serious incident within seconds.