Traveling to every race on the Formula 1 calendar in a single year is the dream of many F1 fans, but how much will it really set you back? We’ve crunched the numbers.
All figures are in $USD. Disclaimer: estimating the cost of travel is not an exact science! Images © f1destinations.com
We used Google Flights to check connections and prices from five different global hubs; London, New York, Dubai, Singapore & Melbourne. We’ve chosen well-rated airlines for long-haul flights with a preference for direct connections or reasonable stopovers (no 12-hour layovers in Kiev with Ukrainian International Airways!) We return to our base after each race, apart from four trips during the year that take in more than one race weekend: the French/Austrian/British GP triple header and three double-headers in Germany/Hungary, Belgium/Italy and USA/Mexico. (The other double headers on the 2018 F1 calendar – Bahrain/China and Russia/Japan – are not close geographically, making it cheaper and more convenient to return to our home base between these events). Finally, for back-to-back races, we’ve chosen multi-city long haul flights and added in cheap one-way short haul flights in between.
Flying to Every Race on the 2018 Formula 1 Calendar Cost an average of $14,221.
The cheapest base is London ($11,054: 49 flights) whilst the most expensive is Melbourne ($18,231: 61 flights). Flight times from Melbourne were also significantly higher overall. The reality is that If you live a long way from a major flight hub (or the rest of the world, hello Australia) then you’ll be paying significantly more for flights and spending a lot more time in the air. The price of flights from the other hubs is closer to the overall average: Dubai ($13771: 43 flights), Singapore ($14,407: 57 flights) and New York ($14646: 51 flights).
Accommodation, Race Tickets & Spending Money
The other significant expenses are accommodation, race tickets and spending money. In the table below, we have included costs from our Budget Planner posts, which look at the total weekend spend for fans on different budgets at all 21 races on the 2018 F1 calendar. The total cost per race is based on a stay of 3 nights on Grand Prix weekend with race tickets, accommodation and spending money. Budget Fans buy the cheapest race tickets (General Admission) and camp trackside or stay at a hostel, whilst Average Fans buy a mid-priced grandstand ticket and stay in a 3-star hotel (double/twin share).
2018 F1 Race Weekend Costs
| BUDGET | AVERAGE | |
|---|---|---|
| Australian GP | $365 | $707 |
| Bahrain GP | $400 | $750 |
| Chinese GP | $200 | $465 |
| Azerbaijan GP | $340 | $900 |
| Spanish GP | $390 | $815 |
| Monaco GP | $595 | $1495 |
| Canadian GP | $297 | $795 |
| French GP | $465 | $1125 |
| Austrian GP | $395 | $945 |
| British GP | $530 | $995 |
| German GP | $455 | $1100 |
| Hungarian GP | $365 | $785 |
| Belgian GP | $410 | $1205 |
| Italian GP | $400 | $1085 |
| Singapore GP | $410 | $985 |
| Russian GP | $280 | $640 |
| Japanese GP | $380 | $835 |
| United States GP | $535 | $1010 |
| Mexico GP | $460 | $955 |
| Brazilian GP | $395 | $930 |
| Abu Dhabi GP | $580 | $1140 |
| (AVERAGE) | ($412) | ($936) |
| TOTAL | $8647 | $19662 |
The average weekend cost is $412 for the Budget Fan and $936 for the Average Fan. China is the cheapest race weekend in 2018 and Monaco the most expensive.
A weekend in Shanghai with race tickets, accommodation and spending money could set you back as little as $200, though the average fan will spend $465. Other cheap destinations include Russian, Canada and Hungary. At the other end of the scale, you’ll need $595 to do a weekend
in Monaco on a budget, but the average fan will spend $1495. Abu Dhabi, USA and Belgium are among the other most expensive destinations when it comes to the cost of race tickets and accommodation.
*Tickets for the Japanese GP, United States GP, Brazilian GP & Abu Dhabi GP are not yet on sale for 2018. We have used 2017 prices for these races. Click on the race titles to read the full Budget Planner post for each destination.
Additional Travel Days
To complete our calculations, we need to add the cost of the additional travel days as part of our one triple-header trip and three double-header trips during the year. This is the four-day period from Monday to Thursday between race weekends and works out at an additional 20 holiday days overall (8 days during the triple header, and 4 additional days for each of the 3 double headers). On these days, we’ve assumed the Budget Fan will spend $100 per day and the Average Fan will spend $200 USD per day, both including accommodation.
Conclusions
- The Budget Fan will pay $25,068 to travel to every race on the 2018 F1 calendar.
This is comprised of flights ($14,221), race weekend costs ($8647) and additional travel days ($100 x 20 days = $2000). If you are based in London or elsewhere in Europe where flight costs are cheaper (and you can use other transport to get to many races), it’s even possible to do the entire year for around $20,000.
- The Average Fan will pay $38,083 to travel to every race on the 2018 F1 calendar.
The average fan’s expenditure is comprised of flights ($14,221), race weekend costs ($19662) and additional travel days ($200 x 20 days = $4000). The reality is that if you are going to go to the effort and expense of traveling to every single F1 race in a calendar year, you may as well do it in style. This means you’ll probably stay longer in some destinations and spend a lot more than $38,083. You only live once, after all.
Hi Andrew,
A couple of weeks back, I did the very same exercise for flight costs to every destination from Mumbai, India!! (in Indian Rupees)
Sr. No. Date Venue GP Flight Cost
1 25-Mar Melbourne Australia 57,000
2 8-Apr Sakhir Bahrain 18,000
3 15-Apr Shanghai China 27,000
4 29-Apr Baku Azerbaijan 50,000
5 13-May Barcelona Spain 44,000
6 27-May Monaco Monaco 49,000
7 10-Jun Montreal Canada 58,000
8 24-Jun Le Castellet France 46,000
9 1-Jul Spielberg Austria 49,000
10 8-Jul Silverstone Great Britain 40,000
11 22-Jul Hockenheim Germany 47,000
12 29-Jul Budapest Hungary 43,000
13 26-Aug Spa-Francorchamps Belgium 40,000
14 2-Sep Monza Italy 45,000
15 16-Sep Singapore Singapore 14,000
16 30-Sep Sochi Russia 48,000
17 7-Oct Suzuka Japan 30,000
18 21-Oct Austin USA 61,000
19 28-Oct Mexico City Mexico 91,000
20 11-Nov Sao Paulo Brazil 80,000
21 25-Nov Yas Marina Abu Dhabi 16,000
Anyone buy a F1 BRAZIL 3-days ticket with me? I use the Sunday one
Grandstand Q or A
I’m actually interested in paddock passes for every single race. I’m sure contacting formula 1 and explaining that you want to buy a paddock pass to every race, they will discount it heavily, as nobody probably does that?
Hi Andy, F1 doesn’t sell Paddock Passes as such. Some of the higher-priced packages from F1 Experiences include access to the Paddock, but otherwise they are not possible to buy.
I would like to take my father to 3 F1 races in one setting, I.e travel to destination A watch race spend few days/ week there, then travel to destination b watch that race, spend week adventuring then travel to destination c, watch that race and fly home. Is this possible and if so how could I go about doing this. I’m a relatively new F1 fan so please excuse my ignorance if this is a totally stupid question. Lol
Regards
Danny
Hi Danny, not a stupid question at all. Sounds like you are a good son! Not sure of your budget, or if you want to travel outside Europe, but here are some options. By the way, it’s going to be much easier to do double-headers, i.e. two races in one trip. The current calendar has lots of good options for this. Anyway, in Europe, you could do Spain-Monaco, France-Austria-Britain, Britain-Germany-Hungary or Belgium-Italy. Outside Europe, you could do Mexico-USA-Brazil.
Another great article on your great site, thanks. It sure does make you dream :-) Especially in these days of Covid travelling restrictions.
Just out of curiosity, are you aware of fans who actually travel for every single race in a season?
Hi Lars, thanks a lot! I’m sure most of us would be happy with travelling to one or two races at the moment, let alone the whole season. There was a fan that travelled to every race in around 2011-12 I think; the story was picked up by some news outlets. I don’t know of any normal fan who has done it since.