The carbon footprint of fan travel to one race weekend at Silverstone.
A number F1 has never publicly measured.
One race. 23% of their annual footprint.
F1 reported a total carbon footprint of 168,720 tCO₂e in their latest report — a 26% reduction from 2018. Fan travel for the British GP alone represents 24% of that entire figure.
F1 does not report fan travel emissions.
F1's published sustainability reports explicitly exclude detailed fan travel modelling. Race attendance has grown from 4M to 6.5M fans globally since 2018 — with zero emissions accounting for any of it. This is the gap.
annual total
Equivalent to driving an average UK car 155 million km, or circling the Earth 3,870 times.
500,000 fans over four days.
The 2025 British Grand Prix set an all-time Silverstone attendance record — half a million fans over four days. Every one of those journeys produced emissions.
Source: Silverstone Official / F1Destinations · All daily figures confirmed for 2025. · Emissions model uses the 280,000 unique attendees estimate.
78% drive. 12% fly.
Those flights produce 87% of emissions.
The disconnect between who takes a flight and how much carbon they create is the defining insight in fan travel emissions. Volume and impact are completely inverted.
Estimated. No official modal split survey published.
Note: Percentages may exceed 100% as some international fans also use ground transport. Confidence: car MEDIUM, flights LOW.
DEFRA 2024 emission factors applied.
International air = 34,954 tCO₂e · Domestic car = 4,291 tCO₂e · Int'l ground = 463 tCO₂e · Domestic air = 551 tCO₂e
“International air travel accounts for ~87% of total fan travel emissions despite being only ~12% of attendees. Domestic car travel, while the dominant transport mode by volume, contributes just ~11% of emissions.”
From local drive to 10,000 km flights.
Silverstone draws fans from across the globe. The further they come, the more carbon they bring. The geography of the audience is the geography of the emissions.
52.08°N
One trip. A 55× difference.
A fan from Northampton and a fan from New York both attend the same race. Their carbon footprint to get there differs by a factor of 55.
All per-capita figures from DATA.json · DEFRA 2024 emission factors applied
Built from public data only.
Every number on this dashboard is derived from public sources, official government emission factors, and transparent estimation methodology. Nothing is made up. Estimates are labelled.
Unique attendees estimated at 270,000 (480,000 cumulative gate entries, ~44% attend 2+ days). All emission factors from DEFRA 2024 UK Government GHG Conversion Factors. Car emissions adjusted for 2.8 average occupancy per vehicle.
| Mode | kgCO₂e/pax-km | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Car (adj. 2.8 occupancy) | 0.061 | DEFRA 2024 |
| National Rail | 0.035 | DEFRA 2024 |
| Coach / shuttle bus | 0.027 | DEFRA 2024 |
| Domestic flight | 0.246 | DEFRA 2024 |
| Short-haul flight | 0.154 | DEFRA 2024 |
| Long-haul flight | 0.148 | DEFRA 2024 |
Range reflects uncertainty in: international attendee % (8–18%), car mode share (70–85%), average car occupancy (2.5–3.0), average regional journey distance (70–110 miles).
This is what's possible
with public data only.
38,619 tonnes of CO₂e. Calculated using attendance records, government emission factors, and publicly available transport data. With access to Silverstone's actual data, we could reduce uncertainty by 80%.
Let's build the full picture.
20 races. 6.5 million fans. A Scope 3 emissions dataset that's never existed. F1 says they're on track for net zero by 2030. They can't measure what they don't track.