Formula 1 has always been glamorous — but starting in 2027, it’s going full-on couture. Gucci has officially been confirmed as the title partner of the Alpine F1 team, making history as the first luxury fashion house to ever hold that position in the sport. The team will race under the name Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team, and yes, the car livery is getting a complete Gucci makeover too.
If you’ve been sleeping on Alpine, now might be the time to wake up. The French-backed squad, currently fifth in the 2026 Constructors’ Championship after a rough 2025 season, is on an upswing — and this partnership is the kind of statement that signals serious long-term ambition, not just a logo deal.
Key Facts at a Glance
| 2027 Season partnership begins | 1st Fashion house as F1 title partner | 5th Alpine’s current 2026 standing | 100+ Years of Gucci heritage |
So what exactly is “Gucci Racing”?
This isn’t just a branding exercise. Gucci is launching an entirely new business vertical called Gucci Racing — described as “a new business and experiential platform built around the values of performance, precision, discipline, and excellence at the intersection of luxury and sport.” Think race weekends with a fashion-week energy. Think paddock hospitality that feels like a Milan showroom. Think merchandise drops that actually sell out.
Gucci’s CEO Francesca Bellettini made it crystal clear this isn’t a cameo — it’s a commitment. She framed it as a reflection of where Gucci wants to position the brand globally, saying F1 represents a unique crossroads of performance, culture, and worldwide reach that no other sport currently offers. The timing is deliberate: F1’s audience has exploded post-Drive to Survive, with a wave of younger, fashion-forward fans who care just as much about aesthetics as they do about lap times.
“Gucci Racing is more than a presence on the grid. It is an expression of who we are and where we want to take the brand.”
— Francesca Bellettini, CEO of Gucci
Flavio Briatore’s fingerprints are all over this
Alpine’s Executive Advisor — and F1’s most theatrical personality — Flavio Briatore has long believed that fashion and Formula 1 belong together. He famously led Benetton to two world championships in the mid-90s, a team that treated its car livery like a fashion statement. Now, with Gucci onboard, he’s essentially proved his thesis at the highest level. Briatore called the deal something he is “incredibly proud of” and pointed to Alpine’s strong start to 2026 as evidence the team is building real momentum, not just hype.
And here’s the thing — Alpine actually deserves the spotlight right now. After finishing near the bottom of the standings in 2025, the team has quietly rebuilt itself and currently sits fifth in the championship. The Gucci deal isn’t a distraction from competitiveness; it’s arriving at exactly the moment the team is starting to deliver on track.
Why does this matter beyond the paddock?
The luxury-meets-motorsport crossover has been building for years. LVMH — Gucci’s parent group Kering’s biggest rival — became an F1 global partner just last year, bringing Louis Vuitton and TAG Heuer into the sport’s top tier. Now Kering is firing back with something bigger: actual car ownership in the competition. It’s a brand war being fought at 300 km/h.
For F1 fans, this opens up a genuinely interesting question: what does a Gucci-liveried car actually look like? Alpine’s current blue and pink scheme is being replaced entirely with Gucci’s colour palette — and given the house’s history with bold, maximalist design, this could be one of the most visually striking cars on the grid. The reveal alone is going to break the internet when it drops.
“The car will race in Gucci colours — and given the brand’s maximalist DNA, the 2027 Alpine might just be the most talked-about livery in F1 history.”
The bottom line
Gucci entering Formula 1 as a title partner isn’t just a big deal for Alpine — it signals a broader shift in what F1 sponsorship looks like in 2026 and beyond. This is a sport that is no longer just for petrolheads and engineers. It’s a global cultural event, and the world’s biggest luxury brands are quite literally buying in. Come 2027, the most fashionable thing you can do on a Sunday afternoon might just be watching a Gucci car take the chequered flag.