Gucci, the renowned global fashion brand, has entered the world of motor racing for the first time, striking a deal to become the new title sponsor of the Alpine Formula 1 team.
From the 2027 season onward, the organization will be known as ‘Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team’, with the fashion house replacing water treatment supplier BWT as the primary sponsor of the racing team.
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With this, Gucci will take a prominent branding presence across Alpine operations, from the car and race suits, through to the pit-lane.
Speaking on the deal François Provost, chief executive of Alpine’s Renault Group ownership said: “Formula One is one of the most dynamic and attractive platforms in global sport. For Renault Group, as a historic Formula One manufacturer, it is a powerful asset to support Alpine’s ambition: building awareness, desirability and influence across markets, while reaching new audiences and young generations.”
Crucially, Kering chief executive officer Luca de Meo was previously the chief executive of Renault Group between 2020 and 2025, which likely illustrates his willingness to partner with his former company, and explains the ease of association between the two major French firms.
BWT has sponsored Alpine F1 since 2022, and may yet remain related to Alpine, albeit in a lesser role, though that remains to be seen.
In recent years, Alpine has found success hard to come by. Back-to-back 6th place Constructors Championship finishes between 2022 and 2024 were followed by a dismal 2025 campaign that saw the team finish bottom of the 10-team grid.
The 2026 season has seen the team fare somewhat better, with Alpine sitting fifth on the now eleven-team grid after five races, with drivers Pierre Gasly of France and Argentina’s Franco Colapinto sitting eighth and eleventh respectively on the drivers' standings.
Gucci, which is owned by French luxury goods conglomerate Kering, has never so strongly entered the sports industry, but now it is capitalizing on the recent growth of F1, which is riding on the crest of a wave with strong commercial and viewership growth year on year.
With the new influx of diverse young fans flocking to the sport thanks to the popular Drive to Survive docu-series, F1 drivers have been elevated into the de-facto role of year-round lifestyle influencers, access to which is no doubt coveted by consumer brands such as Gucci.
De Meo said as much when discussing the logic behind this deal, saying: “Formula One has evolved far beyond sport to become one of the world’s most powerful premium content platforms, reaching over 1.5 billion people each season and inspiring a rapidly expanding, younger and increasingly female audience.
“As a space of creativity, pursuit of excellence and human achievement, we see it as a unique platform for a luxury brand to push boundaries, spark meaningful connections and build long-term value and brand desirability, while delivering measurable and lasting impact.”
The world of luxury goods, particularly luxury fashion, has long been strongly associated with F1.
From the Benetton family’s 15-year stint in the sport from 1983-2001 (first as sponsors, then as team owners) to now, when sponsorship branding is ubiquitous across all areas of the sport, luxury brands have been a constant in F1 thanks to the celebrity image of its drivers and its consistent popularity.
When tobacco sponsorships were banned from the sport in 2006, it supercharged the luxury goods industry’s influence in the sport as the best able sector to bring much-needed cash to the series, a move that has helped turn modern F1 stars such as Lewis Hamilton (who has modelled for Louis Vuitton in the past) into stylistic trendsetters out of the cockpit.
