FEATURE
Janette Pearce started her overseas marshalling adventures in 2012, when she decided to head out to the F1 race in Montreal, six years after she started track marshalling at Oulton Park.“ I had always enjoyed watching the Canadian Grand Prix and I spoke to a fellow marshal, Steve Caswell, who goes every year as part of a British contingent,” she says.“ Combining my loves of motorsport and travel together made perfect sense and that inspired me to go!
“ I was an experienced grade marshal by that time, and I had already done thee British Grands Prix at Silverstone, but Canada turned out to be one of the best of my marshalling career. Everyone initially meets in a bar in downtown Montreal and the festivities start at that point! The people were so welcoming and enthusiastic, and I was excited to see the circuit, which turned out to be far smaller than it looks on television.
“ As a member of the international crew, I was assigned a group captain who dealt with my assignments and looked after me and I was allocated a different corner each day. Duties were also rotated, so I did incident, flagging and comms roles. It was all a learning curve, as each aspect brings different challenges, different perspectives and new ways of doing things, and I also had to deal with getting hands on with a few F1 cars.
“ On the Saturday for practice and qualifying, I was on turn three as lead intervention and that was an interesting location, because there was no public, just trees and the St Lawrence River behind. The first driver I had to deal with was Pastor Maldonado in the Williams, who we went down the escape road. I hopped over the wall and helped turn him around, giving him a little push, all on my own!
“ I was thrilled at having touched an F1 car and had only just hopped back to safety when Lewis Hamilton appeared under my nose and did exactly the same thing! Then, later in the day, Felipe Massa lost control of his Ferrari in the rain and crashed into the barrier. I ran out to him, and he was thumping the steering wheel with his fists … but when I asked if he was OK, he nodded. I got him out of the car and the session was red flagged for recovery.
“ The rest of the weekend then became rather surreal, because when I was going in and out of the circuit, people kept asking me for selfies as the marshal who‘ saved Massa! Oddly, I was in the queue at the hotel when we checked out and Felipe was standing right next to me … and there was no recognition whatsoever!”
After that first event, Pearce was bitten by the international bug and has now become a regular overseas marshal. As a member of the US‘ Pit and Grid’ team for major motorsport events, she has worked at several Miami and Austin Grands Prix, plus the inaugural Las Vegas F1 event. One of her most memorable moments yet came at this year’ s race in Miami, where she was asked to wave the green flag at the back of the grid.
“ Obviously, I said yes,” she smiles.“ It was an absolute honour and definitely one of the most exciting things I have ever done in my life. When the cars go off on their formation lap, you’ re left alone out there with nothing but your thoughts. I felt so privileged and proud to be given this awesome opportunity in a foreign country – but my blood pressure at that point would probably have been through the roof!
“ The odd thing was, after Max Verstappen had done a burn out in front of me and the cars started arriving at their grid slots, it felt comfortingly familiar, and my confidence shot up. The starter said he would not begin the light sequence until I reached the medical car, and that is exactly what happened. The Pit Chief and gate crew were waiting to get me to safety, and it was such an indescribable rush – made even better by the fact it was in Miami!”
Janette waving the green flag on the F1 grid in Miami
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Revolution- August 2025