The world’s most glamorous motorsport series gets underway this weekend, with 24 stops planned on the 2026 circuit. While the best drivers go wheel-to-wheel, their pit crews are just as elite, with the fastest stops taking less than two seconds.

That level of efficiency is out of reach for most drivers, but using ECA’s Cost of Living data, we can still see how much a typical “pit stop” – replacing tyres or changing oil – would cost in each of the host locations.

For standard road car tyres, the Netherlands is the most expensive location on the calendar, with an average price of USD 181 per tyre. Each driver is allocated a total of 1 896 tyres over the course of a 24-race season, so that would be a total of over USD 340 000! At the other end of the scale, tyres in Shanghai cost just USD 81 – less than half the Dutch price and around 20% lower than the next cheapest location, São Paulo.

There is an even wider spread when it comes to oil changes. Three European hosts (Belgium, the UK and Austria) come in at over USD 200. In contrast, the cheapest oil change is found in Nagoya at under USD 50 – roughly a quarter of the cost of the most expensive location.