New F1 motorhome appears in Barcelona paddock

After decades when former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone famously opted for an understated motorhome and awning, current F1 owners Liberty Media have stepped things up with a new mega-structure.

As teams get ready for this week's first pre-season test at Barcelona, F1's two-storey motorhome has been a surprise addition to the paddock, with its size comparable to the grand facilities that teams are most famous for.

However, it is understood that the F1 motorhome has been commissioned as a low cost and low carbon footprint option that other teams could utilise themselves in the future.

With F1 looking to become carbon neutral by 2030, one area of particular interest is to cut back on the amount of freight shipped to races – of which motorhomes were a significant part.

The idea is that when teams retire their current motorhomes over the next few years, they could take on the F1 concept themselves.

F1 is likely to use the new motorhome for its staff, meetings and guests at the European races.

After two years where the paddocks were mostly empty because of COVID restrictions, F1 is hoping that the 2022 season will see things get much more back to normal as the pandemic is brought under control.

F1's move to a more cost effective and sustainable motorhome comes just a few years after its managing director of motorsport Ross Brawn famously suggested that the sport needed to pull back on some of the extravagant designs.

As part of the sport's push to be carbon neutral, Brawn suggested that smaller motorhomes could help cut down on the equipment that needed to be shipped to races.

"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," he said.

"For the other 15 races, they are quite happy to use whatever is 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."