Gucci Racing: Luxury Just Bought a Formula 1 Team's Name. Can It Buy the Result?
Picture courtesy of @kymillman on Instagram
Gucci is about to become the first luxury fashion house to give its name to an F1 team. It is a bold answer to a very real problem, and it comes with a risk no handbag ever faced.
What happened
From the 2027 season, the Alpine Formula 1 team will race as Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team, in Gucci's colours instead of its usual blue and pink. Gucci replaces BWT, a water-technology company that had held the role since 2022, in a deal reported at around US$150 million.
Being a "title partner" is the highest level of sponsorship in F1. It is not a logo on a sleeve: the brand's name becomes part of the team's official name, repeated by commentators, printed in every result table and seen on every race broadcast. No luxury house had ever done it before.
Why Gucci needs this now
Gucci is the engine of its parent group Kering, and that engine has been struggling. Its sales fell by around a quarter in some quarters of 2025, were down 9% in the first half of 2026, then fell another 6% in the third quarter as fewer shoppers walked into its stores. Kering's own answer is to spend more on marketing and client experience. A brand that has shrunk this much needs more than new bags. It needs to be talked about again, especially by the young customers it lost when luxury prices rose too far.
F1 is one of the few stages that can deliver that. The sport reaches more than 1.5 billion people a season, and since Netflix's Drive to Survive, its audience has become younger and increasingly female. In other words, it is full of exactly the people Gucci wants to win back.
Why it's more than advertising
For a luxury brand, F1 is really a client-relationship tool. There are more than 20 race weekends a year, and each one is an occasion to invite top clients into the paddock, host dinners and create exclusive moments. That kind of access is one of the most valuable things a luxury client advisor can offer.
It is also a competitive move. Louis Vuitton, owned by rival group LVMH, became an official partner of the whole championship two years earlier. Gucci could not take that role, so it took the most visible slot left: a team carrying its name.
How it compares to Lululemon's NFL deal
In a previous case study we looked at Lululemon's NFL partnership, which mostly put team logos on existing products. That is borrowing someone else's relevance. Gucci's deal goes much further: it gets creative control over the car, the team kit and the hospitality, and its name is in the team title. This is a brand trying to author culture, not just stand next to it.
The risk: you can't buy lap times
Luxury brands control every detail they put their name on, from the stitching to the shop window. F1 is the one stage where the result is live, public and out of their hands.
When the deal was announced in May, Alpine was the comeback story of the season. Since then, momentum has stalled: the team has scored just seven points in seven races, while leaders Mercedes have 578. In 2027, some weekends will put "Gucci" near the bottom of the timing screen in front of millions of viewers.
Our verdict
Gucci Racing is the boldest marketing move in luxury this year, and a smart way to reach a young, global audience. But Gucci is now betting on two turnarounds at once: its own, and Alpine's. Luxury sells perfection; F1 sells uncertainty. The 2027 season will show whether Gucci bought a stage or a liability.
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