Thirty marshals received an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the FIA Formula 1 paddock at Silverstone as well as the AT&T Williams team prior to going on duty for the weekend’s British Grand Prix.

Each member of the group was a winner in a special competition arranged by Go Motorsport – the campaign set up by the Motor Sports Association (MSA), the governing body of motor sport in the UK, to help guide people into all areas of motor sport, be it as a competitor, spectator or volunteer.

Thanks to the generosity of RBS – sponsor of AT&T Williams F1 – all 30 winners were provided with a spot of hospitality in the team’s state-of-the-art motorhome that travels to many of the F1 races. They were then given a guided tour of the Williams team pit garage as the squad prepared the cars of Nico Rosberg and Kasuki Nakajima ahead of the weekend’s track action. This included standing within feet of the team as it practiced its all-important pit stop routine of changing wheels and refuelling while the Williams team was happy to answer any questions. Rosberg personally greeted some of the winners and thanked them for their dedication and effort.

From there, the group went on to become part of the 1093-strong team of volunteer marshals and officials in their respective posts around the circuit to ensure that the British GP ran as smoothly as possible for the drivers and the 310,000 fans who attended the three-day event.

Colin Hilton, MSA Chief Executive, commented: “This was a fantastic opportunity to reward some of those marshalling at the Grand Prix and our thanks go to Williams and RBS for their very kind assistance in making this happen. It is a fitting reward for the amazing efforts of our volunteers and they all came away delighted with their experience.

“Every week, up and down the country, those very same marshals and some of their 12,000 colleagues, give up their time voluntarily to help run the 5,000 motor sport events that take place each year. They come from a wide variety of jobs and backgrounds yet together they form the very finest team of marshals and volunteer officials anywhere in the world. They are an absolute asset to British motor sport, so it’s great for us to be able to reward some of them with this type of initiative.”