Watch a Formula 1 start and try counting the brands. Not the ones on the cars: the ones around them. The boards along the straight, the lettering on the walls, the names on the grandstands and on the bridges over the track. Nobody really reads them, yet everyone sees them, in every shot, for the whole race.

This is trackside advertising, also called perimeter advertising: the signage that surrounds the field of play. It exists in almost every sport, from football to tennis, but motorsport has its own rules. In Formula 1 and MotoGP the spaces are not sold by the circuit but, to a large extent, by whoever holds the championship’s commercial rights. And some of those boards now exist only on television.

What trackside advertising is

Perimeter advertising covers all the advertising spaces that frame the competition area: pitchside boards in stadiums, the panels around a tennis court, the boards along the straights and run-off areas of a circuit. Over the years they have moved from paint and banners to rotating panels and on to LED boards that change message several times during the same event.

Their value comes down to one simple thing: they are in the shot. Anyone following a race on TV cannot avoid them, because the camera frames the track and the track is surrounded by those brands. That is why the price of a space depends mostly on where it is: a corner where the cameras linger is worth more than a stretch seen only in passing.

Who sells trackside boards in Formula 1 and MotoGP

This is where motorsport differs from football. In a stadium, pitchside boards are usually sold by the club or the match organiser. In Formula 1, by contrast, the signage at a Grand Prix is largely managed by Formula 1, the commercial rights holder, which uses it to give visibility to its global partners. Race promoters have historically earned mainly from ticket sales; only a few Grands Prix, such as Monaco, Brazil, Singapore and Australia, have handled part of the advertising themselves, under specific agreements with Formula 1.

In MotoGP the model is similar. MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group (formerly Dorna, owned by Liberty Media since 2025), which has held the championship’s commercial and TV rights since 1992, includes trackside presence in its partner packages, and the title sponsors of individual Grands Prix get visibility at the circuit that carries their name.

The practical consequence matters: if you want a board at a Formula 1 or MotoGP Grand Prix, you usually do not call the circuit. You negotiate with the championship, or with a team or an agency that knows how that system works. We explain this further on our pages about Formula 1 sponsorship and MotoGP sponsorship.

From boards to virtual advertising

One of the most significant developments cannot be seen from the grandstand. Formula 1 controls the TV production of its races and can insert virtual boards, graphics that appear only in the broadcast signal and do not exist at the circuit. Jonny Haworth, who heads Formula 1’s commercial partnerships, explained in November 2025 that this allows brands to be changed during a race and different feeds to be sent to different markets: a brand can appear only in the country where it sells.

This is partly how Formula 1 sells regional partnerships, such as the one with McDonald’s in Latin America, alongside the eleven global partners the championship had at the end of 2025. For a company that does not need to be seen all over the world, it is a way in that did not exist before.

Why it works, and when it is not enough

Trackside advertising has two strengths. The first is repetition: a brand present all weekend appears constantly, in live coverage, in highlights, in the photos shared on social media. The second is association: whatever surrounds the track becomes part of the story of the race and takes on some of its prestige and emotion.

It also has an obvious limit. A board says a name; it does not tell a story. On its own it builds awareness, but it rarely changes how people see a brand or brings in customers. That is why it works best as part of a wider project, with hospitality, content and initiatives designed for the audience: what we call sponsorship activation.

What it is worth to a company

Putting a single price on perimeter advertising is impossible. It depends on the championship, the Grand Prix, the position of the board, the length of the deal and what comes with it, because the space is rarely bought on its own. In Formula 1, access to trackside boards almost always comes through a partnership agreement with the championship, which carefully protects the exclusivity of its global partners.

So the right question is not how much a board costs, but what goal it has to achieve. If the aim is to build awareness in a specific market, regional virtual advertising can be more useful than a real board seen around the world. If the aim is to meet clients, hospitality counts for more than a logo on the wall. Trackside is a powerful tool, but it remains a tool.