Flavio Briatore Saves Alpine’s Deal: How Gucci Went From a ‘Very Bad Idea’ to F1 Title Sponsor
Formula 1 has officially entered its high-fashion era. With luxury conglomerates realizing the unmatched global reach of the F1 paddock, the grid is rapidly transforming into a high-speed runway. But while the paddock has recently been dominated by the massive presence of LVMH, the Alpine Formula One Team just executed a massive corporate counter-punch for 2027: a full title sponsorship with Gucci.
Next season, the Enstone-based squad will officially race under the banner of the “Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One team.” It is a monumental commercial victory for a team that has been desperately trying to rebuild its image amidst severe on-track struggles.
However, according to Alpine Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore, the groundbreaking partnership was almost dead on arrival.
The Kering vs. LVMH Proxy War
To understand the magnitude of this deal, you have to look at the broader luxury landscape. Formula 1 is currently in the grip of LVMH, the French powerhouse that controls Louis Vuitton, Moët Hennessy, and TAG Heuer. By securing Gucci—the crown jewel of the rival Kering conglomerate—Alpine hasn’t just found a sponsor; they have turned their F1 car into a proxy war between the world’s most powerful luxury groups.
In a recent interview with The Race, Briatore explained that the idea was born precisely from this rivalry. Observing Louis Vuitton’s heavy event sponsorship footprint in F1, Briatore realized that no singular luxury brand had yet claimed prime real estate directly on an F1 car.
To bridge the gap, the veteran F1 dealmaker reached out to his close friend Luca, who had previously served as Renault’s chairman before moving over to a leadership role at Gucci. Briatore pitched the vision of pairing Gucci with Alpine’s other major corporate partners, like Eni and MSC, to create a super-group of Italian-led global brands on the grid.
The initial response was less than stellar.
“In the beginning, he told me it was a very bad idea,” Briatore revealed.
Briatore’s Monaco GP Masterstroke
Despite the immediate rejection, Briatore refused to let the concept die, relentlessly pushing the issue with Gucci’s leadership. The persistence eventually paid off, with Luca conceding that it could work—provided they could convince François-Henri Pinault, the billionaire Chairman and CEO of Kering.
That presented a massive new hurdle. Unlike the motorsport-obsessed executives at some automotive brands, Pinault had zero baseline interest in Grand Prix racing.
“In the beginning, it was difficult because Mr. Pinault never followed Formula One, had no idea what was going on,” Briatore explained.
Knowing that spreadsheets and viewership metrics wouldn’t be enough to sell a fashion mogul on a high-speed engineering sport, Briatore leaned on the ultimate F1 trump card: the Monaco Grand Prix. Alpine hosted Pinault at the crown jewel of the F1 calendar. The sheer spectacle, exclusivity, and raw event power of Monaco immediately won the Kering CEO over, turning him into an enthusiastic supporter of the project.
“After that, he was convinced to do something with Alpine. We had a race in Monaco for him. It was the first race. He was incredibly enthusiastic, you know, seeing all this. Plus Monaco, it’s an event, it’s a big event,” Briatore explained.
The formalization of the contract has reportedly injected a massive wave of enthusiasm into the Gucci corporate offices, who are now tasked with bringing a $6 billion luxury house into the paddock as a title sponsor for the very first time.
Beyond the financial lifeline it provides to Alpine, the deal highlights a fascinating dynamic in the current business of Formula 1. As Briatore quickly pointed out, the sport is now effectively backed by the two biggest French luxury groups in the world, yet both F1 marketing pushes are being spearheaded by Italian executives—Pietro Beccari at Louis Vuitton and Briatore’s contacts at Gucci.
Alpine has successfully secured its financial and branding future with one of the most lucrative title sponsorships on the grid. Now, Briatore faces an even tougher challenge: building a 2027 car that is actually fast enough to justify the designer label.
