Anyone who has attended a Formula 1 grand prix since the pandemic will have noticed a major new reality: many of the keenest and most knowledgeable fans are women.

The action and drama of hit Netflix series Drive to Survive opened the opaque and blokey world of car racing to a much younger, more female-skewed audience. The effect has been so dramatic that every other sport has had to sit up and take notice. It doesn’t hurt that, as a producer of the behind-the-scenes show, James Gay-Rees, told Fin Magazine: “When you take the helmets off, what you’ve got is these attractive young men.”

F1’s sell-out crowds and record television ratings, particularly in the previously indifferent United States, have enhanced F1’s position as a luxury brand. Little surprise then that other luxury brands – including those making high-end clothing and accessories – have piled in. Many observers have made the point that “F1 has become fashion’s favourite sport” and that “F1 is the new runway”.

“When you take their helmets off what you have is these attractive young men”. Scenes from Netflix’s Drive to Survive. Dan Vojtech/Netflix

At least 20 fashion brands sponsor F1 cars and drivers, while LVMH will become a global partner with the F1 organisation this year. The 10-year deal includes several of the conglomerate’s maisons, including Louis Vuitton, Moët Hennessy and Tag Heuer.

“Fashion and Formula 1 may seem like unlikely partners, but this collaboration reflects a broader shift in global luxury marketing,” says Angela Cruz, associate professor in marketing at Monash University. “High-fashion brands now routinely co-brand with surprising partners, including pop culture icons, video game characters and streetwear brands.”

Lewis Hamilton at the Met Gala last year. Alamy

The world champion drivers of last century were more likely seen in dirty overalls than the latest fashions. If they needed to tog up for a sponsor event, they’d wear a suit. With a few exceptions, it was wives and girlfriends (and the mercifully dispensed-with grid girls) providing the colour and couturial interest.

Yes, there are still the WAGs. The girlfriend of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, French-Swiss-Italian model Alexandra Saint Mleux, is arguably the current pit lane “it” girl (her full-length burgundy coat made The New York Times′ Style pages). And no grand prix is now complete without a gaggle of A-list actors and celebrities, many of them voguing new outfits for the cameras.

But the biggest change has been an increasing flamboyance in the drivers. The best example is seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who moved from the Mercedes-AMG team to Ferrari this year.

For his arrival at each race weekend, Hamilton has ditched the usual team livery for an extravagant mixing and matching of high-end brands such as Gucci and Prada, edgy streetwear, and lesser-known Black-owned labels including Daily Paper and Bianca Saunders.

Hamilton’s touchdown at any event has become such an occasion that @hamazinglew is but one of the Instagram accounts precisely detailing each ensemble, item by item. At the 2024 Met Gala, Sir Lewis, to use the honorific, made a particular splash. “The star driver,” gushed Vogue, “wore a custom Burberry look that paid homage to 18th-century Black gardener John Ystumllyn and poet Alex Wharton, via embroidery and a branch-like necklace.”

Hamilton’s approach has influenced other drivers. Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda has quipped he gets more comments on his clothing than his racing. He’s a fan and wearer of Japanese brand Sacai, though officially aligns himself with AlphaTauri, the clothing arm of his team owner, Red Bull.

Yuki Tsunoda in Netflix’s Drive to Survive. Dan Vojtech/Netflix

George Russell, Hamilton’s teammate of the past three years (and a fellow Brit), seems to genuinely prefer the buttoned-up preppy style of Tommy Hilfiger, which has been a Mercedes sponsor. The 73-year-old founder of that eponymous label has been a motorsport aficionado since his teens and recently told The New York Times: “When I got into the sport, no one was into fashion. You couldn’t see it anywhere. People were just wearing mismatched stuff all the time.”

In the 1990s, Tommy Hilfiger began designing the Lotus team uniforms. The brand is now financially backing the F1 Academy (a talent program hoping to bring female drivers into the sport) and Apple TV’s F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, due mid-year.

Ferrari, the longest-running and most prestigious car brand in F1, now has its own high-end fashion label, under creative director Rocco Iannone, while separately generating tens of millions with its team caps, T-shirts, jackets and lifestyle accessories. None of this stops the Italian team also carrying the logos of Giorgio Armani, Puma and Ray-Ban.

Chanel’s racetrack-inspired 2023 cruise collection was presented, appropriately, in Monaco. Getty Images

The McLaren team is partnered with Reiss, Aston Martin with Boss, and Haas with newish Milan-based, US-influenced Palm Angels. Even fashion houses not directly sponsoring F1 have been getting in on the act. Chanel’s racetrack-inspired 2023 cruise collection was presented, appropriately, in Monaco. A short time later, a white Chanel T-shirt featuring a 1970s-style F1 car was declared a sell-out despite costing $US4450 ($7120).

All this fashion activity could be seen as an outbreak of taste, artistic expression or individualism, but of course much of it is to do with money. The latest Luxury Study from Bain & Company has annual global spending on personal luxury goods sitting at nearly €1.5 trillion ($2.5 trillion).
It does note, however, a slight recent contraction due to economic circumstances, advising: “To win back customers, particularly the younger ones, brands will need to lead with creativity and expand conversation topics.”

This is where racing can be helpful. Cruz says new generations of luxury consumers are seeking not only exclusivity but excitement. “Collaborations offer a powerful way to achieve these twin objectives.” F1 itself is a little cagey with releasing marketing figures, but global brand agency Karla Otto’s most recent joint report with influencer tracker lefty.io says Formula 1 is the second fastest-growing sport (behind UEFA soccer) in terms of Earned Media Value. This EMV is a measure of how much press and attention is garnered without direct advertising.

Apparently, F1’s EMV surged 35 per cent in 2023, and fashion was a major beneficiary. “F1’s growth,” says the report, “has prompted an avalanche of investments in cross-sector sponsorships, partnerships, brand activations and placements, including car livery sponsorship, after-parties, on-site hospitality and VIP dressing. Automotive companies lead, generating $19.1 million in 2023, while luxury fashion closely follows at $18.8 million EMV, holding nearly a quarter of the share of voice.”

The American F1 owner, Liberty Media, has executed a huge social media program using race highlights, news, photos, sponsor content, and the words of the drivers themselves, many of whom are now major international celebrities (Hamilton has 39 million Instagram followers).

And so it is that F1 is moving into a more sharply dressed future. For those who remember the days when cigarette and alcohol companies were F1’s main supporters, it’s a pleasant surprise to welcome the 2025 Louis Vuitton Australian Grand Prix.

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Credit to AFR, full story here.