Where are F1 teams based? Welcome to England's 'motorsport valley'

Where F1 teams are based, featuring seven in England's 'motorsport valley' — Photo: © IMAGO

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Where are F1 teams based? Welcome to England's 'motorsport valley'

Where exactly is the region dubbed 'Motorsport Valley'?

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Saturday 18 April 2026 12:57

F1 has raced all over the world in its 76 year history, across six continents from Singapore to Texas. So how come, for such a global sport, most Formula 1 teams are based in England?

Far from being evenly distributed about the British isles, say a base in Wales or one in Yorkshire, F1 teams are clustered together in the south of England in a region dubbed, as a result of their proximity to one another, 'Motorsport Valley'.

At this point you may be picturing undulating hills, Toto Wolff out on the verdant pastures with a shepherd's crook and a herd of sheep, but that's not quite what it looks like.

Article continues under video

'Motorsport Valley' encompasses the neighbouring counties of Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, with McLaren the furthest away from their rivals - a full one hour and 20 minutes away from the Williams Grove base!

In fact Ferrari, Audi and Racing Bulls are the only three teams without a permanent base in England, although a new technology centre is in the works in Bicester (Oxfordshire) to capitalise on the talent in the area.

So, how come all these F1 teams are so close to one another? Let me don my best Abe Simpson hat and tell you the story. Well son, it all began in World War II...

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Why are so many F1 teams based in England?

Chris Aylett, CEO of the Motorsport Industry Association, told BBC Sport back in 2013 that when the Second World War ended, there were aerospace engineers based in the area had no jobs for them to utilise their skills.

Furthermore, the area was full of airfields that has been used in the war, Silverstone being a prime example, with these engineers building lightweight cars to race on the airfields that then became racetracks.

The area attracted those who wanted to race, followed then by the suppliers who set up shop in the area.

Technical analyst for the BBC at the time, Gary Anderson added: "The area around Silverstone was a handy place to be. You could go there and do testing and it was well located in terms of major roads and airports, such as the M1 and East Midlands Airport.

"If you were serious about motor racing, you had to be in that area - so teams and suppliers started to move there to form a hub of industry."

The cluster of F1 team based in 'Motorsport Valley' has also led to top engineers all living in the area, because even if they are poached by another team, they don't necessarily have to move their home and family.

It's why teams such as Audi have struggled to attract top talent, with the original Sauber facility in Hinwil, Switzerland failing to attract engineers who do not wish to uproot their lives in the UK.

Where is each F1 team based and can I visit?

All the locations (and details on whether you can visit) are here:

Mercedes - Brackley and Brixworth (Northamptonshire)

Mercedes have two bases associated with their F1 team, their main car factory in Brackley and their engine operations in Brixworth, both situated in Northamptonshire.

The state-of-the-art technology centre was opened in Brackley in 2010 and contains their wind tunnel, dynos and the team’s driver-in-loop simulator, where they work on development of the car throughout the season.

Mercedes' Brackley facility boasts over 950 employees that work 24/7 to aid the team's competitive success in Formula 1.

Brixworth meanwhile, has been the home of Mercedes engines since 1995, with 700 people working on engines and powertrains for the F1 team (and customers such as Williams, McLaren and Alpine) alongside high-performance hybrid road cars.

McLaren - Woking (Surrey)

McLaren Technology Centre spans approximately 550,000 square feet across a 130-acre site featuring a landmark curved building and manufactured lake for 'cooling', a design that could only be conceived by the ambitions of legendary boss Ron Dennis.

During his time at McLaren, Ron's Rules at the factory were infamous, with every room set at 21 degrees Celsius (the optimum temperature in his opinion), the demand that screw-heads must be vertical not horizontal so as not to attract dust and Sky Sports F1 reporter Ted Kravitz was even kicked out once for wearing jeans.

On the construction of the Bond villain-esque lair, Dennis said in 2000: "Put a man in a dark room, he's hot, it smells bad, versus a guy in a cool room, well-lit, smells nice... When you throw a decision at those two individuals, who's going to be better equipped to effect good judgment and make a good decision?"

The general public cannot visit MTC and only those with an invite are allowed to partake in a tour within those hallowed walls.

Inside McLaren Technology Centre in Woking

Red Bull - Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire)

Red Bull's base on the other hand, is open to the general public in 2026 for a tour behind the scenes of their technology centre in Milton Keynes, although these are only select dates and cost a hefty sum.

At time of writing, the only available are: Friday, July 10, Friday, August 28, Friday, September 25, Friday, October 23 and Friday, November 27, with tickets costing £300.

As of 2026, it's not just the car built at their Milton Keynes base but also their Red Bull Powertrains, using their own engines for the first time this season.

Williams - Grove (Oxfordshire)

Williams have been based in Oxfordshire since their inception in 1977, eventually moving from Didcot to their Grove facility in 1996, which was officially opened by Princess Anne.

The public cannot access the factory as walk-ins, but can get close to the F1 action with the Williams Experience Centre. These offer race-day experiences where you can watch the on track action with exclusive behind the scenes insight and team hospitality.

Williams also offer heritage museum tours and sprint race Saturdays at Grove.

Alpine - Enstone (Oxfordshire)

While the Alpine name may be fairly recent on the Enstone door, the factory has been under various different guises in F1.

Whiteways Technical Centre started as Benetton's base in the early 1990s, became Renault in 2002, Lotus in 2012, Renault once again in 2016 and finally Alpine in 2021.

Alpine offers behind the scenes tours of their factory so you can witness the process of designing an F1 car with your own eyes, and you can register interest on their website.

Aston Martin - Silverstone (Northamptonshire)

The doors to Aston Martin's technology campus officially opened in 2023, taking over 24 months to complete in Silverstone. Their state-of-the-art wind tunnel arrived in March 2025, just in time to welcome technical genius and now team principal Adrian Newey (although wasn't working until the April).

Aston Martin's factory is located opposite the Silverstone circuit, with its roots as 'Team Silverstone' reaching back to when they were Jordan F1 team.

The old Jordan facilities have been demolished, however, to make way for the £200million headquarters which now spans 37,000 square metres over three buildings and houses 1000 employees.

Haas - Banbury (Oxfordshire)

Far from the monolith of McLaren's operations, Haas' Banbury factory has slowly but surely been bringing itself up to date as a facility, with their first in-house simulator set to land in Banbury later this year in June. This means that Haas will no longer be reliant on using Ferrari's simulator all the way in Maranello, thanks to their enhanced partnership with Toyota.

Haas' 200 employees are split across their Banbury, Italian and US operations, and the UK site houses their operations functions. These include logistics, electrical engineering, control systems and programme management.

Cadillac - Silverstone (Northamptonshire)

As F1's newest entry, Cadillac will run their operations out of their UK base at Silverstone for their debut season. Originally developed by Andretti Global before their F1 entry was approved, the new team have been on a major recruitment drive to help get their new project off the ground.

'Silverstone Park' is still in development with there being a short walk between the six different buildings on the industrial estate, which will one day be reduced to four permanent buildings.

Three of these will be called the UK Technical Centre, the UK Production Centre and the UK Logistics Centre

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Written by

Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

Sheona Mountford is a motorsport journalist specialising in F1. As a writer and contributor, she covers a wide range of motorsport series from F1 to F1 Academy, responsible for breaking news, live race coverage and in depth analysis of the sport and the culture around it.

View full biography

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