LUXURY TAKES POLE: F1 AS THE NEW ARENA FOR ICONIC BRANDING
Formula 1 Getty Images
As Formula 1 breaks records on the track, luxury brands are seizing pole position off it — transforming race weekends into cultural stages where heritage, innovation, and spectacle converge.
Key Points
LVMH’s 10-year, $1 billion partnership embeds Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon, and TAG Heuer into Formula 1’s cultural fabric.
Formula 1’s rise — fuelled by record audiences and Netflix’s Drive to Survive — makes it a rare live global spectacle in an on-demand world.
Luxury maisons are no longer sponsors but storytellers, reframing victory, time, and celebration through the lens of craft and excellence.
At Monza, the “Temple of Speed,” Max Verstappen didn’t just secure pole — he set history. With a record-breaking qualifying lap of 1:18.792 at 264.68 km/h, and a race that became the fastest Grand Prix ever run, Formula 1 once again proved its gravitational pull. What was once a niche pursuit for motorsport purists has transformed into a global stage where technology, performance, and culture collide.
And luxury is moving in fast.
A Billion-Dollar Alignment
Earlier this year, LVMH announced a landmark ten-year, $1 billion global partnership with Formula 1. More than a sponsorship, the group positioned the alliance as a shared philosophy: “At the Speed of Dreams.” As LVMH expressed, this is not a slogan but a state of mind — a reflection of perpetual motion and pursuit. Like F1 drivers and engineers, the artisans of Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon, and TAG Heuer never stop refining their craft. “There is no finish line in the race for excellence.”
In practical terms, the partnership hardwires luxury into Formula 1’s narrative. Louis Vuitton now delivers bespoke trophy trunks for the world’s most prestigious races, turning ephemeral victories into artefacts of heritage. Moët & Chandon has reclaimed its place as the champagne of choice on the podium, embedding luxury directly into the ritual of celebration and lending its name to the Belgian Grand Prix. TAG Heuer, long intertwined with motorsport through the Monaco chronograph and its cinematic heritage with Steve McQueen, is now the official timekeeper of Formula 1 — a role that merges precision engineering with cultural storytelling.
Together, these activations represent more than visibility. They are cultural choreography: maisons embedding themselves into the very DNA of the sport. Each interprets Formula 1 differently — Vuitton reframes victory, Moët reframes celebration, TAG Heuer reframes time.
From Paddock to Pop Culture
Formula 1’s transformation into a cultural juggernaut has been years in the making. Netflix’s Drive to Survive reframed the sport through narrative storytelling, humanising drivers and attracting new audiences well beyond motorsport enthusiasts. Global viewing figures have surged, with sell-out crowds from Miami to Singapore signalling the sport’s broadening reach.
Hollywood has only accelerated this trajectory. Brad Pitt’s F1 movie, filmed in collaboration with real teams and drivers, became a global box-office hit in 2025 — grossing more than $620 million worldwide and cementing the sport’s cinematic appeal. It marked the moment Formula 1 moved definitively into mainstream entertainment, alongside the likes of football World Cups and the Olympics.
At a time when most cultural platforms are fragmented and digital-first, Formula 1 remains a rare appointment-to-view experience. Its scarcity — 24 weekends a year, broadcast live to a global audience — gives it a ritualistic intensity that streaming culture cannot replicate. For luxury, this combination of scarcity, ritual, and scale is irresistible.
LVMH x Formula 1
Luxury’s New Stage
Luxury has long sought arenas of cultural influence: couture on the Paris runways, cinema at Cannes, art in Venice. Formula 1 represents a new kind of stage — one where precision engineering and human performance mirror the values of craft and heritage. For LVMH, the alignment is particularly strategic. Louis Vuitton’s trunks position the maison not just as a purveyor of fashion, but as the custodian of victory. Moët & Chandon makes luxury inseparable from the act of celebration itself. TAG Heuer ensures that every lap, every second, carries the imprint of its chronographs. These are not accessory moments. They are central narratives in the spectacle of Formula 1.
What separates this partnership from legacy sponsorships is depth. The maisons are not banners at the circuit — they are authors of its rituals. In reframing victory, time, and celebration, they move from visibility to authorship, from logo to language.
Acceleration Ahead
As Verstappen and Norris redefine the limits of speed, luxury maisons are redefining the very spaces where brand value is created. Formula 1 is no longer simply a sport; it has become an arena of cultural influence, where luxury is firmly in pole position. In this new alignment, the brands that will thrive are those that understand what Formula 1 itself embodies: precision, endurance, and relentless forward motion. The sport offers not just scale, but resonance — and for luxury, resonance is the new currency of relevance.
Bungalow 28 operates at the intersection of technology and image — offering end-to-end services across fashion, luxury, art, and culture through 3 distinct verticals.