At last week’s Singapore Grand Prix, the scale of Formula One’s (F1) new popularity was impossible to miss. In the Ferrari hospitality box, team president Frédéric Vasseur observed how the event had sold out months in advance — something that five years ago would never have happened.
F1 has entered a new cultural era. From this year’s F1: The Movie starring Brad Pitt to the global phenomenon of Netflix’s Drive to Survive, the sport’s influence now extends far beyond the track. Luxury and lifestyle brands are accelerating into the paddock — from LVMH’s landmark 10-year global sponsorship, to collaborations with Tommy Hilfiger, Charlotte Tilbury and Chivas Regal. This weekend, brands will flock to the F1 US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
According to data from research firm SponsorUnited, the number of active apparel brands in F1 has doubled since 2018, from 24 to 50, with average deals topping $3 million annually — roughly eightfold the comparable agreements of US sports leagues. Total brand participation has risen 40 per cent since 2021.
That momentum is mirrored in the drivers’ growing cultural power. Among the sport’s most recognisable figures, Charles Leclerc has served as a global ambassador for Scotch whisky brand Chivas Regal since 2023, a partnership that epitomises how lifestyle brands are using the grid to reach new audiences. “Now, F1 speaks to a much broader audience compared to when I first started,” Leclerc says. “There are many more people interested in it — people from different backgrounds and with different passions.”
That cross-pollination extends well beyond sponsorships. Just days after the Singapore race, YouTube creator Amelia Dimoldenberg announced Passenger Princess, a four-part series featuring F1 drivers George Russell, Oscar Piastri, Ollie Bearman, Carlos Sainz and more, as she attempts to earn her driving licence. Known for interviewing actors at the Oscars and musicians at the Brits, Dimoldenberg’s pivot to the paddock shows how seamlessly F1 drivers have evolved into mainstream lifestyle figures.
Instagram content
What Leclerc describes — and what brands like Chivas, Charlotte Tilbury and Tommy Hilfiger have capitalised on — reflects F1’s broader transformation into a global ecosystem where fashion, luxury and entertainment converge. But as F1’s world expands, does it risk reaching saturation? And how can brands without a historical presence in motorsport tap into this momentum in a way that feels authentic?
Storytelling as a strategy
What once made F1 exclusive, now makes it magnetic. “F1’s cultural world has historically been quite impenetrable,” says Omone Ugbome, strategist at sports consultancy Pacer. “But since Drive to Survive, most people now learn team narratives and rivalries before they understand racing technicalities. The lore is almost always the entry point, which is why F1 works as a cultural platform.”
That narrative-first access has radically changed who follows the sport. “The audience is growing fast, pulling in young women, Gen Z, people who weren’t typically F1 fans,” Ugbome adds. “With a relatively open cultural footprint, brands have the unique opportunity to shape the sport’s narrative rather than buy into one that’s always existed.”
For SponsorUnited founder Bob Lynch, F1’s boom stems from its pivot to centring emotional storytelling. “F1 is essentially designed to storytell in authentic ways for the market, with drivers that people know,” he explains. “They have lifestyles; they live all over the world. It’s very global and luxurious.”
Brands are leaning into that evolution. For spirit brands like Chivas, the sport has become a metaphor for craft and progress, as the brand’s partnership with Ferrari’s Leclerc reflects how performance can translate into cultural aspiration. “Values that are true to myself and are true to the brand made it a natural fit — to always innovate and stay ahead of the curve,” Leclerc says. “As an athlete, that’s very important, and obviously for Chivas, it’s also one of their core values.”
“The social and media conversation tells us a lot,” says Oyin Akiniyi, brand director of cultural comms and experiences at Chivas Regal, on the success of the partnership. “We’re seeing pickup in cultural spaces where Chivas Regal may not have had the same traction five years ago — different platforms, different creators, different conversations. These are signals that show us we’re tapping into the needs of the modern consumer.”
The fashion grid
Fashion has been pivotal in reshaping F1’s cultural image. As drivers evolve into global style figures and digital personalities, they’ve helped turn the sport into somewhat of a catwalk. Apparel and accessories are now the second largest sponsorship category for F1, per SponsorUnited, after technology.
Tommy Hilfiger, one of the first luxury labels to fully embed itself within the paddock, has turned its 2018-2024 partnership with the Mercedes-AMG F1 team into a case study in how fashion can drive sport into new cultural territory. “We’ve gone beyond the standard fanwear, campaigns and collaborations to write a rulebook for how team partners craft stories and deepen fan access into their favourite teams and drivers,” says Tommy Hilfiger global CMO Virginia Ritchie.
For brands aiming at Gen Z, authenticity is everything. “The strategies that have worked were the ones that truly met Gen Z where they already are,” Ugbome says. “F1 bars popping up turn races into social rituals. Immersive experiences create access beyond the track. E-sports tournaments give a gaming generation another arena to compete in. Fashion partnerships reintroduced the sport’s visual codes to new audiences. Memes spread organically, without forced amplification.”
Ugbome cautions that surface-level tie-ins won’t cut through. “Don’t build something so generic it could work on any stage,” she says. “If your visual language doesn’t speak to where F1 is culturally — and what audiences can’t get anywhere else — the partnership won’t land.”
Still, there’s untapped potential. “F1 could be tapping into wider cultural ecosystems,” Ugbome says. “The art and streetwear crossover remains mostly open, which is surprising given the sport’s existing luxury partnerships. The aesthetics, the styling codes, the brand infrastructure — it’s all there, but no one has properly claimed that territory yet.” She points to Grey Goose’s US Open strategy — turning its Honey Deuce cocktail into a cultural symbol — as a model for how F1 could magnify rituals and experiences that live beyond the race itself.
The sustainability of the surge
Whether F1’s commercial peak in 2025 represents a sustainable platform or a short-term rush, will depend on how effectively it maintains momentum beyond the Drive to Survive era.
“What F1 is trying to do is figure out additional distribution means,” says Lynch. “They’ve brought additional teams in, and every one of those expansion teams is generating $100 million-plus in sponsorship revenues. They’ve been very smart with how they’ve gone about expanding the platforms — with Formula E, Formula Two — but I think the biggest opportunity is still going to be in content, and the content distribution they create.”
He predicts further diversification. “The NFL was once incredibly protective of its content, and now you’re seeing everything from Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders to docuseries across Netflix. F1’s next big opportunities are gaming — massive for young audiences — and finding other content distribution partners,” Lynch says.
He believes the drivers themselves will become increasingly sophisticated in their personal branding. “They’re more strategic about content and endorsements,” says Lynch. “It’s only been five years since Drive to Survive really took place, and it’s such a tiny time period for growth.”
For now, the chequered flag belongs to those who treat Formula One as a storytelling engine, one that fuses aspiration and culture at 300 kilometres per hour.
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.
