Running on Pure Emotion
Formula E Notebook’s culinary correspondent and cultural attaché, Andy Stobart, recently investigated Formula E’s renowned premium hospitality experience, Emotion Club, at Monaco. He was impressed with what he saw, experienced and tasted.
Alongside the yachts, the penthouses and the grandstands, the Formula 1 paddock arrived a few weeks ago in the Principality with an entire temporary village of motorhomes, kitchens, meeting rooms, sponsor lounges and executive suites. Teams began planning their Monaco hospitality operation months in advance, navigating one of the most space-constrained events in world sport.
Monaco is arguably Formula 1’s greatest hospitality challenge. Limited space, restricted access and temporary infrastructure force teams to undertake complex build programmes involving multiple freight movements and bespoke structures. Teams effectively construct temporary headquarters overlooking the harbour for a single race weekend.
It is an impressive spectacle. It is also an expensive, freight-heavy and increasingly complex one with its choreographed sequence of hospitality unit builds, some of which are created bespoke for Monaco.
Just a few weeks earlier, the Monaco E-Prix occupied the same streets but operated to a very different philosophy. No towering motorhomes. No isolated compounds. No teams disappearing behind branded walls.
Instead, much of the championship’s commercial ecosystem gathers inside Emotion Club, Formula E’s premium hospitality offering, where manufacturers, sponsors, teams and championship partners share a common space and a common sustainable and efficient ethos,
For Andrew Sewell, Formula E Hospitality Manager and a veteran of 15 years in Formula 1 before joining Formula E, the contrast remains one of the most striking aspects of the championship.
“It was very alien to me when I started working in Formula E,” he explains. “Everyone’s talking to everyone. It’s much friendlier. Everyone seems to get on and the teams help each other as well.”
That cultural difference sits at the heart of what makes Formula E hospitality unique, convivial and progressive.
One Big Happy Family
In Formula 1, hospitality is built around exclusivity. Teams invest heavily in creating premium environments for sponsors, partners and guests. Specific TVs, coffee machines and even chess sets are transported around the world to ensure the team space is on brand. Those spaces become extensions of the brand itself, carefully curated and carefully protected.
In Formula E, the approach is considerably more open.
“The Emotion Club is where we mainly entertain sponsors, partners, teams and Formula E guests,” Sewell explains. “Unlike Formula 1 where all the teams have their own separate areas, we have everyone together in one, far more efficient and manageable space.”
The result is an atmosphere that often surprises newcomers from other forms of motorsport.
Manufacturers share tables with suppliers. Sponsors mingle with rival teams. Executives who might spend race weekends separated by hospitality walls elsewhere can find themselves discussing business over lunch. Indeed, Saturday’s Monaco E-Prix was enjoyed by a certain Mr C. Horner kicking back on the sofa next to current Alpine F1 boss Mr F.Briatore to watch the race.
“In Formula 1, if you have sponsors and potential partners, you keep them far away from your rivals,” Sewell laughs. “Here, people can come up and chat to each other. And that’s the idea.”
For a championship built around collaboration between manufacturers, cities, technology partners and sustainability initiatives, the model feels remarkably aligned with Formula E’s wider identity.
Thinking Local
The differences extend far beyond guest lists and seating plans.
One of the biggest operational contrasts between Formula E and Formula 1 hospitality is how events are delivered.
Formula 1’s hospitality structures are engineering projects in their own right. Many teams transport significant infrastructure around the world, with multiple sets of hospitality dressing being shipped and flown around the work to create a consistent experience from Melbourne to Monaco to Mexico City. Formula E takes a different approach.
“We use local caterers everywhere,” Sewell explains. “The food reflects the region and the country we’re in.”
In Spain, guests were treated to tapas, cured meats and local flavours. Elsewhere, menus are adapted to local culture rather than delivered from a standardised global template. The same philosophy extends beyond catering.
“We use local fit-out agencies. We use local host personnel. We use local security teams,” Sewell says. “We only fly a very minimal team to events.”
For Formula E, this approach delivers practical advantages. Freight requirements are reduced. Fewer people travel globally. More spending remains within local economies.
Most importantly, every event feels slightly different. The hospitality experience in Monaco is not identical to Madrid, Berlin or São Paulo—and that is entirely intentional.
More Than Lunch
There is a tendency to view hospitality as a comfortable place to eat, drink and watch racing. The reality is considerably more strategic.
“It’s one of the big ways we can show off what Formula E does,” Sewell explains.
His responsibilities extend beyond Emotion Club itself to Electric Laps, pitlane walks, broadcast centre tours and other experiences designed to immerse guests in the championship.
“It isn’t just sitting here eating and drinking and watching the racing. It’s about understanding what Formula E is all about.”
That matters because hospitality remains one of the most important tools available to commercial teams.
Some partners bring dozens of guests to a race weekend. Others focus on a small number of senior decision-makers. Either way, the objective remains the same: creating experiences that strengthen relationships and demonstrate value.
“It is written into pretty much every contract,” Sewell says. “Hospitality is a big part of what we do.”
The Sustainability Question
The irony of modern motorsport hospitality is that while racing organisations increasingly promote sustainability, hospitality operations can often remain among the most resource-intensive elements of a race weekend.
Formula E has attempted to address that challenge directly. The local supplier model is part of the solution. So too is a more modest travelling footprint. Even decorative elements are considered.
Plants used within hospitality areas are returned to nurseries rather than discarded after events. Reusable elements are retained wherever possible. Freight is minimised.
“We don’t want to be flying a massive team all over the world,” Sewell says.
It is not the sort of sustainability initiative that generates headlines. There are no dramatic announcements or revolutionary technologies. Instead, it is a collection of operational decisions that quietly reduce complexity, cost and environmental impact.
Controlled Chaos
That does not mean Formula E hospitality is easy. Far from it. If anything, the temporary nature of many Formula E venues creates unique challenges.
Monaco’s weather disrupted setup schedules. Royal visits in Madrid brought extensive security requirements and last-minute changes. New venues regularly require hospitality plans to be redesigned almost on the fly. So, Madrid proved particularly challenging.
At one stage, the final location for Emotion Club was still changing just weeks before the race as structure layouts evolved. Capacity requirements shifted and new obstacles emerged during site inspections.
“It was definitely a bit swan-like,” Sewell recalls. “It looked serene, but underneath it absolutely wasn’t.”
Yet that adaptability is precisely what many inside Formula E enjoy.
After 15 years in Formula 1, Sewell believes Formula E’s more collaborative culture, flexible operating model and shared approach offer something genuinely different.
But whether the future of motorsport hospitality is bigger, grander and more exclusive—or smaller, smarter and more connected, is yet to be defined. What we do know is that Formula E is not only constantly innovating and evolving on track but also off it too.
