GrandPrixPal Editorial

Who we are

GrandPrixPal is an independent F1 race travel guide for people going to a Grand Prix — usually for the first time. It is not affiliated with Formula 1, the FIA, any team or any race promoter.

GrandPrixPal Editorial is the byline for everything we publish: race hubs, guide pages and blog posts. Each race page shows the date it was last updated.

Spotted something wrong or out of date? Tell us via the contact page — corrections are the most useful message we get.

How session times are verified

Every practice, qualifying, sprint and race start on the site comes from one race database, where each time is stored with its source and the date we last checked it. No page types its own copy of a session time.

• Source. The official timetable Formula 1 publishes on each race's page at formula1.com.
• Check date. Shown on every race page under the headline: “session times verified [date] against [source]”.
• Not yet published. The FIA publishes next season's session times months after the calendar. Until then a race page shows only the race start, carried over from the circuit's previous local start time, and labels it as an estimate — never as official.
• Time zones. Times are shown in track time with the zone next to every time, and the schedule can switch to your own zone.
• Build checks. The site will not build if a page states a session time that disagrees with the database, or shows one without a time zone.

Bag policies and entry rules

Bag sizes, clear-bag rules and banned items come from each circuit's or promoter's own published conditions of entry, stored in the same database with the source page and check date. Where an organiser publishes no figure, the page says so rather than inventing one.

How grandstand View and Shade scores are set

The 1–5 scores on our grandstand pages are editorial ratings set by GrandPrixPal against the definitions below — a judgement, not a measurement. Fan ratings are not blended into the scores.

What the top score means on each dimension:

• View 5/5 — a long stretch of track, a big screen in sight, and no fences in the line of sight.
• Shade 5/5 — covered, or in shade for the main race session at that circuit's start time.
• Atmosphere 5/5 — packed, loud, with fan-zone access: the stand people talk about.
• Overtaking 5/5 — an overtaking or braking zone in front of you, so you see positions change.
• Comfort 5/5 — backrest seats, enough legroom, toilets and food close by.

A stand we have not rated shows no score at all, rather than a guess.

Ticket prices

Grandstand prices are shown as ranges. Where we have recorded when and where a price was checked, the stand shows “Prices checked [date]”. Ticket prices move constantly and every seller's fees differ, so treat any range as a guide and confirm on the official ticket site before you buy.

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