What Does It Take to Paint an F1 Track?

There’s always a lot of behind the scenes work going on to make our favorite motorsports events happen. Tracks have to be paved, or sometimes dragged, and important locations need to be marked out and delineated. For high-speed, high-precision F1 races with so much on the line, there’s no room for error.

YouTuber Matt Amys took a look at what goes into painting the lines at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps as it preps to host an F1 race. He shadowed Roadgrip, the company tasked with marking out the various track edges and runoff areas, and even got to paint a bit himself. The short video is worth a watch and gives some insight into how the margins of the technically challenging course are painted into place.

We knew that the paint used on a track isn’t your normal Weatherbeater exterior paint you’d roll or spray onto your house. Anyone who’s walked a track to get the lay of the land before a track session can see it’s got a textured element, as the lines will see high speeds and high-grip racing rubber. A smooth surface could spell disaster, especially in the rain, but we weren’t expecting there to be an approval process for the colors. That gritty paint must take a toll on nozzles the same way grits can eat their way through 3D printer and media blaster nozzles.

The self-propelled painting apparatus probably posts the longest lap times of any vehicle to set its tires on an F1 circuit, but in that vividly-painted on-track moment, it’s more important than any Red Bull, Mercedes, or Ferrari.