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Kim Kardashian at the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix. The entrepreneur and influencer is reportedly dating Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton.
IMAGO/ABACAPRESS
Starting in 2027, Gucci will become the title partner of the Alpine Formula 1 team—a first for the luxury industry. The deal highlights just how much the racing series has evolved from motorsports into a global entertainment platform.
The race car is still under a tarp—no one knows yet what it will look like. Only the colors are set: Gucci’s green, red, and gold, along with the interlocking double-G. Starting in 2027, Gucci will become the title partner of the Alpine Formula 1 team —which will then compete as the “Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team.” No other fashion house has gone this far before Gucci. The parties involved have not disclosed official figures, but industry insiders estimate the deal to be worth 50 to 60 million dollars per season.
The announcement stated that the goal is to reach new, younger target audiences. Gucci could certainly use new customers: the fashion house has been posting weak results for some time. In 2025, revenue at parent company Kering fell by 13 percent—largely due to the struggling core brand Gucci. In the fourth quarter of 2025 alone, Gucci sales dropped by 10 percent.
Formula 1 is therefore expected to help. And luxury brands are already flocking to the sport in droves. Since 2025, the luxury goods group LVMH has been the global luxury partner of Formula 1, representing brands such as Louis Vuitton, Moët Hennessy, and TAG Heuer. The 10-year contract is reportedly worth more than $1 billion.
The fact that Formula 1 has become so attractive to such brands is primarily due to a change in ownership. Since Liberty Media took over the racing series in 2017, it has been running the sport like an entertainment product: It relaxed social media rules and now commissions a steady stream of content from the racing teams.
Among these is the Netflix documentary series “Formula 1: Drive to Survive.” Since 2019, it has staged the racing series like a drama: Drivers are portrayed as characters with evolving personalities and heightened rivalries. Even those who had never watched a race before could follow the series: It’s not about aerodynamics and engines, but about egos, contracts, and defeats. Some drivers accused the series of inventing conflicts that never actually existed—but it was precisely this dramatization that made it a success.
This was followed by a spin-off about the F1 Academy junior series, which follows young female racers. At the same time, the licensing business grew—from Lego and Mattel toys to a Disney partnership and even its own energy drinks. The success is reflected in the numbers: Sponsorship revenue has more than doubled compared to 2019, and women make up a good 40 percent of the fan base.
And it is precisely this audience with strong purchasing power—one that has largely ignored motorsports until now—that makes the sport attractive to the fashion industry. The cosmetics company Charlotte Tilbury, for example, entered into its very first sports sponsorship with the F1 Academy in 2024. For Flavio Briatore, team principal of Alpine and architect of the Gucci deal, Formula 1 is simply “the place to be.”
Apparently, Kim Kardashian has to be there too, starting this season. She is reportedly dating race car driver Lewis Hamilton. In Monaco, the influencer and entrepreneur sat in the pit; after finishing second, Hamilton blew her a kiss from the podium. When she took a towel from driver Kimi Antonelli’s pit after the race, Mercedes turned it into a social media video: in it, Antonelli receives a replacement towel embroidered with “To Kimi from Kim.” This has nothing to do with the sport anymore—but it has everything to do with the spectacle that luxury brands latch onto.
