The French team will change its name and colors after closing a historic agreement with the Italian luxury brand. It will be the first time that a fashion house serves as title partner of a Formula 1 team.
After several rumors in recent weeks, Alpine officially announced that Gucci will become its new main sponsor, in a historic agreement that will change the identity of the team both on and off the track. Starting next season, the team will compete under the name "Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team", thus representing the debut of a high fashion brand taking on the role of title partner of a team in the top category of motorsport.
The partnership will also involve a complete visual transformation. The French team will leave behind the traditional blue and pink colors used in recent years and will adopt Gucci's characteristic aesthetic, with a combination that will include black, green, red, and gold on the A527 of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto, who were part of the promotional images for the launch.
A possible design of the A527 in Gucci colors
The agreement, which reportedly will have an initial duration of three seasons and a value close to 50 or 60 million dollars annually, will replace the Austrian company BWT as the main commercial partner of the French team after 5 years of partnership.
In addition to the sports sponsorship, both companies will launch "Gucci Racing", a new commercial and experiential platform that aims to merge luxury with motorsport under concepts such as performance, precision, discipline, and excellence.
From the Italian brand, they emphasized that Formula 1 represents: "an unprecedented global platform that offers access to an increasingly diverse and selective audience, rapidly expanding in key strategic markets". In this sense, they believe it is an ideal environment to reinforce "the appeal, visibility, and cultural relevance of the brand on a scale and with a frequency that few other platforms can offer".
At Alpine, they celebrated the global impact of the alliance and highlighted that the project will include special content, exclusive products, and experiences aimed at high-end clients. Flavio Briatore, executive advisor of the team, was one of the main voices of the announcement and expressed enthusiasm for the new direction of the team. "Partnering with such a prestigious brand as Gucci in Formula 1 is something I feel incredibly proud of", he stated.
Flavio Briatore together with Francesca Bellettini, president and CEO of Gucci
The Italian businessman also linked the agreement to the sporting growth that the Enstone structure has shown in recent seasons. "With improved performance on track and Alpine achieving its best historical score at the start of the season, this new collaboration with Gucci reflects the team's growing momentum", he maintained.
The arrival of Gucci deepens an increasingly marked trend in Formula 1: the expansion of the championship into the universe of entertainment, fashion, and lifestyle, in search of consolidating a much broader global audience than the traditional motorsport one.
