Gucci announced on Wednesday that it will assume title partnership of Renault’s Alpine Formula One team from the 2027 season, with the squad to compete as the Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team. The Italian fashion house said the agreement will be housed within Gucci Racing - described as a new business and experiential platform built around the values of performance, precision, discipline, and excellence at the intersection of luxury and sport.
The change follows Alpine’s current sponsorship arrangement with Austrian water treatment company BWT. Gucci did not disclose the financial details of the arrangement. Company statements said the deal will make Gucci the first luxury fashion house to lend its name to a racing team.
The announcement is part of a broader push by Gucci to elevate its profile and counter recent declines in sales. Earlier this month the brand staged a large-scale runway show in New York’s Times Square to capture global attention. Gucci described the partnership as a unique platform to push boundaries, spark meaningful connections and build long-term brand desirability while delivering measurable and lasting impact.
Gucci also positioned the move as aligning the brand more closely with leadership at Kering, its French parent company. Luca de Meo, CEO of Kering, previously served as Renault’s chief executive. Commenting on the sport’s reach, de Meo said: "Formula One has evolved far beyond sport to become one of the world’s most powerful premium content platforms, reaching over 1.5 billion people each season and inspiring a rapidly expanding, younger and increasingly female audience."
Gucci framed the collaboration as a convergence of luxury and high-performance sport. The brand said Gucci Racing will be built around the values of performance, precision, discipline and excellence - language the company used to describe the experiential and commercial ambitions for the initiative.
Alpine’s team is run by Italian businessman Flavio Briatore, who has a long-standing connection to de Meo. Briatore first entered Formula One with the Benetton team in 1990. Over the years he has been known for his involvement in high-end hospitality and the ownership of the "Billionaire" brand. Briatore said he was extremely proud of the Gucci partnership and optimistic about the global opportunities it creates.
"Not only that, but I am also excited about the possibilities the partnership with Gucci brings and the great things we can achieve together at a global level," Briatore said. "The Enstone Team has a history of doing things differently to others and has previously shown that fashion can finish first in Formula One."
The Enstone reference points to Alpine’s Oxfordshire base and to the team’s earlier iterations. As Benetton, the squad won drivers' titles with Michael Schumacher in 1994 and 1995, and then as Renault with Fernando Alonso in 2005 and 2006.
On-track performance in recent seasons has been variable. Alpine placed last among teams in 2025 but the team has shown early momentum in 2026, sitting fifth of 11 after five rounds of competition.
The luxury sector has been tapping exclusive, high-profile events to counter a pullback in global demand for traditional product lines like handbags and apparel. Formula One has become one such platform for luxury houses to reach broad, younger and increasingly female audiences. The sport’s commercial appeal has drawn other headline partnerships: in 2024, Liberty Media-owned Formula One secured a multi-year arrangement with French luxury conglomerate LVMH reported to be valued at over $100 million.
Gucci’s move to become a title sponsor is notable within that context. The company said Gucci Racing will serve as both a commercial engine and an experiential hub, though it did not disclose financial terms or specifics about how the platform will operate commercially. That absence of financial detail leaves open questions about the scale and revenue expectations tied to the relationship.
For Alpine, the tie-up introduces a high-profile fashion partner and strengthens ties between the team’s leadership and Kering’s executive circle. For Gucci, it represents a new type of brand extension, positioning the house directly within the operational identity of a Formula One team rather than as a peripheral sponsor.
Context and implications
- Gucci will be title partner of Alpine from 2027 and the team will race as Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team.
- The collaboration will be part of Gucci Racing, an experiential platform centered on performance and luxury-sport crossover.
- Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed; Gucci is the first luxury fashion house to lend its name to a racing team, according to the company.