How to become an F1 Marshal with The Motorsports Marshal | FanAmp Fast Lane

Before we get started - it is important to note that Yvette DOES have a full time job that is not in motorsports! Marshaling is completely on a volunteer basis for her!

Getting her start in Motorsports

#1. What was the first moment that you can remember discovering motorsports?

 I'm  not really sure if it's a conscious thought, but I grew up next to the racing track in Assen (Netherlands).

So, when Moto GP came to town, we always went and looked at the bikes when they left at the end of the race. I think I was five or six years old when I started joining my dad on free practice days, because as a kid under 12 you could join adults for free.

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#2. When did you decide that this is where you wanted to build a 'career' - especially in F1 marshaling? 

 I think it started after the first time I went to an F1 race at Zandvoort as a Marshal in 2022. The second year that I went to Zandvoort, it was my first experience as a Marshal at a different race, and I met some amazing people that made it so fun. So I thought, "What, where else can I go and experience, what's going on?"

So the year afterwards, 2023, I went to Spa because the Netherlands are quite close by. From there on it snowballed to "where do I want to go now, this is fun. I can go anywhere where I want."

You have to sign up and hope you get accepted. That's sometimes a problem, but it started from there.

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Yvette's Current Role

#3. What was your first marshaling role and the first step you took towards making this a consistent thing that you do?

 I saw an ad from the circuit in Assen that they were looking for people to help out. I was in a time period where I was coming back from a gap year before university started, and I saw it and thought "I've always had a good time there. I'm not sure what this is, but let's check it out!"

...And that role was as a Marshal. They call it different names sometimes - it's 'officials' for them. Everybody who works at the track isn't an official.

Then you have Marshals who are people who help here and there, and they have separate groups at Assen. That's how I started. I saw the ad that they needed people to help out. I thought it would be fun to see what it was? As I keep on saying to people, I'm 10/11 years onwards now, and almost all of my free time goes towards marshaling.

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#4. What does a standard day look like for you - specifically marshaling an F1 Race?

 We usually go to the track 2-3 hours before the first session starts. We have to sign in and make sure everybody's there.

Then, we have to do track inspections! We check - in the morning - our section of the track that we're working that everything is clear. Are there any debris, any holes that need to be repaired?

From there on, they have several inspections - track inspections, medical inspections, etc... The race director comes by again and it's a lot of waiting before we start. Usually that's between 7:30AM and 8:00 AM that they do the inspections.

Then we have until 9:00 AM until cars start to run. We just basically stay at the track until the last session.

After the last session, we have to track check the track again, see what's going on, and if anything that needs to be repaired overnight. Once that's done, we go back. We hand in our equipment, often the radios, need to be recharged during the night. We go back to our hotel... Sometimes there's dinner at a track and we have dinner together.

Then we go back to a hotel, campsite, or wherever we're staying for the weekend.

 I think last year at Spa, there was a change in the schedule because of the weather. We left the track at 7:30 PM, and we were there at 6:00 AM. Then, the next morning at 6:30AM, we had to be on track again. So, its very very long hours.

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‍#5. What are the most rewarding and the most challenging parts of volunteering as a Marshal?

Rewarding

 The rewarding part is that you get to be close by. You get to be part of it. Depending on where you are, you can get a post with better access or not. I was lucky this year to be in the pit lane twice.

So, you see a whole different viewpoint of what's going on. I really enjoyed watching what's going on in the garages. What we always like is the driver's parades as well, and we always move onto the track so we can see them. We're allowed wave to them and interact. It's always a fun bit.

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Difficult

 The challenging part would be the long days. Being there really early until late and standing outside in the heat, in the rain - doesn't matter because you have a very important job to do.

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#6. What are the top 3 qualities that have helped you succeed?

Love motorsports in general (not just popular series)

 You have to love motorsports in general. We all want to be at a familiar race like Le Mans. People love to go to the big ones, but you have to have your experience before you can get there. It might take a few years, so you have to really love motorsports in order to enjoy other, smaller series, to get there.

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Enjoy teamwork

 You have to be good at teamwork because you always work with a team.

Depending on the event, like with Moto GP, we have quite big teams. You have to have two or three teams per post to pick up a bike. The team is five people, so there's easily 20 people there at one post. During F1, you may be with four people on your post and you have to spend the whole weekend together. You want to enjoy it all together.

The teamwork is important.

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Be sociable

 You have to spend the whole weekend together with each other from 6:00 AM until 8:00 PM. Then you go back to your accommodations and you sleep and then you're back at it again... all with the same people.

 It's fun to stand close to the races and be part of it... but for me, it's really become about the people. They're the reason that I do it.

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Yvette's Advice

#7. If you could go back and change anything about your path to where you are today, what would that be? 

I probably would've gone abroad early if it was possible, but I started marshaling at the same time that I started university. At the time, I didn't have much free space to go wherever I want.

Now, I'm working so I can choose whenever I want to go somewhere on vacation and take the time off. I think if I could choose something, I would go back and say to myself, "okay, do international marshaling earlier because it's really fun."

I'm not sure if it was realistic at the time to do.

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#8. If you could give one piece of advice to someone looking to follow in your footsteps what would that be?

 Just do it. It's fun.

It's a great way to be involved - you CAN get involved in sports, and you don't have to make a career out of it.

What I like for most is for example- I've had weekends where you have somebody who has a PhD.... standing on a flag post next to somebody who is a welder.

It doesn't matter what your background is, what your education level is... When you're a Marshal, you're accepted as a Marshal and you become part of a - I call it an 'orange family'. Everybody helps each other, and everybody's really nice.

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Author's note: I asked about requirements and training to Marshal in F1!

It requires some education to get there. Sometimes you're lucky because your home track organizes something. On my flag post in Zandvoort, for example, there was a girl who was in a trainee year, so her first year as a Marshal was immediately at F1. Sometimes you're lucky. It depends also on your country.

I know England has different grading systems, and you need to have some experience to do the next exam for grades. You need to have certain grades before you can work internationally. So, you have to work for often for a few years.

Sometimes you're lucky, and you can do it in your first or your second year, but you definitely need to work for it in order to get to F1.

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Yvette's Favorites

#9. What is your favorite race/ event/ moment that you’ve had in your career thus-far?

 I think Le Mans last year! It was my first time at Le Mans. Five hours. Five hours safety car. I slept for five hours. Just my experience before that was awesome with Zandvoort and other F1 tracks, but it's so much more there.

It's a festival with racing, and it's really nice to see everybody is there for the racing. If you're on track or in a paddock, it's fun.

If you are just away from the track, at a campsite, it's quiet. It's not like there's a big party going on, and just the whole atmosphere there was really special. I was really surprised by how much I liked it, and I can't wait to go back this year.

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#10. What was your experience working the Las Vegas Grand Prix as the newest race on the F1 Calendar?

 I didn't find it cold because I'm used to Dutch weather. Everybody was walking around with hand warmers.... while I was like, "I should take off my hoodie."

I was at a turn next to the Sphere. It was a whole different experience for me because for me it required me flying to the other side of the world for an event.

Usually I'm staying track side at the campsite, and now we were all together in hotel. I quite like that from a Marshal perspective because everybody was together instead of scattered everywhere on a campsite. Accommodations nearby.

I will say the rules were quite strict. We had to go through security checks before we could go to the track, and then we weren't allowed to get off the bus, and the bus took an hour and a half to get 2 miles to the track.

It still felt like luxury, though.

It improved day by day as well - even with the street closures. Saturday - we were there pretty quickly and then they just closed off a lane for us to go through, but it took them a few days to get there.

I liked how organized it was, especially for street circuits and only the second year holding event there. It felt much more organized than, for example, Spa. The whole event was so positive and good, in my experience. I don't think I'll be coming back because of thall of the paperwork I had to do beforehand:

Certificate of conduct, proof of income, proof of living here, proof that I have a job here and I will return.  I'm not even earning money there, but still I was a contracted employee for some reason. It's the system they work with,  so there's too much paperwork and hassle and not a lot of help from the organization with questions

Even so, Las Vegas was special.

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Want to learn more about building your own business and working across many motorsports series? Then check out all of our Fast Lane interviews, or jump right into one of these:

• Entrepreneurship in Motorsports with Sarah Levenson
• Talent Management with Luke Francis