Logistical and environmental concerns may bring to an end the use of ‘gin palace’ motorhomes, says Formula 1 managing director Ross Brawn.
A long-time feature of European races, Brawn hinted the large, state-of-the-art motorhomes used by teams and engine suppliers may not fit with the sport’s vision for a greener, more efficient future.
“We are looking at transportation and all the equipment that we use,” Brawn told motorsport.com. “So my guys at the moment are looking at all the alternative forms of transport, and train is actually a very efficient way of moving stuff around. Sea freight is also a very efficient way of moving things around in terms of the impact it has. So we’re looking at all the logistics and see how we can minimise our impact.
“Then there is [the issue of] motorhomes. We all go to a grand prix and for nine races of the year we have motorhomes carted around by trucks, a large fleet of trucks, that give the teams the facilities they need.
“For the other 15 races, they are quite happy to use whatever’s there when they turn up on Thursday.
“We go to overseas races, for example we go to Baku, and you have a nice set of prefabs all laid out for you. Nobody complains, and it is all workable
“Then we go to Monza and we have our gin palaces with all the trucks that are needed to transport them. So in the future, we want to move to a motorhome or hospitality facility which could be put up with far less impact in terms of logistics and transportation than we have now.”
Used to entertain guests as well as host the media and team personnel, the motorhomes are trucked around Europe while adding significantly to the diesel usage of a sport that has already announced plans to go carbon neutral by 2030. Already set to change the look of the sport with next year’s regulations, it seems Brawn could soon be providing a similar facelift to the paddock behind it.