The Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team Arrives
On May 27th, the agreement between Alpine F1 and Gucci was officially confirmed, with the luxury fashion brand giving its name to the team (which will become the Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team), which will feature its own black and gold logo with the G on the cars produced in Enstone. It will also develop a “narrative ecosystem” using the language of high-performance sport.
According to The Race, it is a three-year agreement worth 50 million dollars per year.
The masterminds behind the operation are Kering CEO – Gucci’s owner – Luca de Meo and Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore.
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Why does Gucci choose F1?
The first answer, the simplest and most immediate, concerns the overlap of the target audience. 60% of Gucci buyers are Millennials (under 35) and 60% of the brand’s clientele is female. So what better match than F1? Gucci does not hide that market research naturally directed it to the Circus: the average age of fans is 32 and 50% of new fans are women.
Formula 1 is no longer just about the track, but is becoming a lifestyle and it is no coincidence that Stefano Domenicali emphasized the need to broaden perspectives: “Other people can love F1 for other reasons, beyond the cars. We are much more than just a race on the track or the best drivers in the world.”
But the Gucci audience is also attractive to Alpine: Francois Prevost – CEO of the Renault Group – did not hide that the female audience influences 70% of car purchases and buys 30-35% of new cars.
Fashion brands and F1
It’s not just Kering with Gucci, but also LVMH – which last year closed a ten-year partnership with F1 worth 150 million dollars per season. The Louis Vuitton logo is now familiar to those who follow Formula 1 and the next Monaco race is called the “Grand Prix Louis Vuitton de Monaco”.
Luxury brands are increasingly interested in Formula 1 and racing culture has become one of fashion’s preferred languages. Traditional advertising no longer reaches consumers as it used to, so communication needs to change: F1 offers global visibility, exclusivity, and access to celebrities.
But luxury fashion brands are declining…
But not all that glitters is gold. An interesting podcast from Newsweek explains how Gucci is going through a far from happy moment: in the first quarter of 2026 sales fell by 14%, in 2025 revenue was down 22%. The Kering group (of which Gucci is the flagship with 60% of profits) went from a profit of 1 billion euros in 2024 to a net loss of 29 million in 2025 and had to close over 200 stores worldwide.
A relaunch is needed and F1 is the ideal platform for growing brands (just think of the various artificial intelligence brands sponsoring drivers and teams), but also for luxury brands that are struggling. And even LVMH is not doing well: the world’s largest luxury group recorded a -5% revenue drop in 2025.
In short, the entire sector is in a complicated situation. In particular, there is a post-Covid cyclical downturn in the luxury sector, with weak demand. Especially in China. Not surprisingly, this was indicated by Kering during the financial results presentation as one of Gucci’s weak points: “There we have low cultural relevance”.
The key role of Asia
And also from this perspective Formula 1 is perfect for LVMH and Gucci to try to break into the Asian market. According to Nielsen Sports data, the base of Chinese fans has grown dramatically, with a +40% increase between 2024 and 2025. Half of the Chinese fan base discovered Formula 1 mainly thanks to viral content on Bilibili, RedNote, and TikTok and it has become a mass interest. The site Sixth Tone explained how collaborations between Chinese brands and F1, with co-branding operations, have skyrocketed, which are very popular on local e-commerce platforms. And something unimaginable a few years ago is happening: Chinese shopping malls have started dedicating increasingly large spaces to motorsport-themed setups from brands like Puma and Adidas.
This is why fashion brands need a platform that can relaunch them in the Asian continent.
Regarding Asia, there is also another issue to address: the large public attendance at every GP. Easily explained: in Japan at Suzuka, with the minimum wage (about 1180 dollars) you can afford 10 cheap tickets (about 120 dollars each).
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Why does Gucci choose Alpine F1?
Let’s return to Alpine and Gucci. The link between the two entities is undoubtedly Luca de Meo. Milanese, 58 years old, he was CEO of the Renault group from July 2020 to June 2025, before moving to Kering in September 2025 with the same role and the mandate to financially restructure the group.
It was de Meo who brought his friend Flavio Briatore back to F1 in June 2024, as Alpine’s executive advisor, handing him the keys to a team in deep results crisis.
Once at Kering, it was natural for de Meo to look at Formula 1 and Alpine as the ideal partner for a collaboration.
The relationship between de Meo and Briatore
In the June 1st edition, Il Fatto Quotidiano raised a question about the Gucci-Alpine agreement that put the spotlight on the ties between Briatore and de Meo.
Flavio Briatore in fact hired Giulio de Meo, Luca’s son, in his Monaco holding Majestas in 2025. And subsequently Gucci carried out two highly visible operations “with subjects linked to the same perimeter.” Besides the deal with Alpine F1, there is also the Gucci branding of the beach club “La Rose des Ventas” in Monte Carlo, owned by Briatore.
Il Fatto Quotidiano contacted Kering, which explained that Giulio de Meo collaborated with Majestas through an internship before his father joined the group, and Flavio Briatore, who declined to comment.
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