The conversation around Formula 1’s commercial growth tends to focus on the new – the fintech platforms, AI companies and cryptocurrency exchanges that have flooded the grid. It is not the whole story. Luxury brands never left.
As the grid continues to grow, they are signing longer, embedding deeper and stating their case with greater conviction than at any point in recent memory.
Sector’s The Grid database, which tracks every commercial partnership across all 11 F1 teams and the sport itself, currently lists 49 partners operating across AI, fintech and cryptocurrency categories alone.
But alongside them sits a category that has always been part of the sport’s identity – watches, champagne, cruise lines, premium spirits and heritage hospitality brands – whose collective presence across the grid is deep, long-established and also still growing.
Watches, in particular, represent a category whose depth in F1 is historically sound. Seven luxury timepiece brands currently hold partnerships across the grid simultaneously.
TAG Heuer at both F1 and Oracle Red Bull Racing, TUDOR at Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team, Breitling at Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team, IWC at Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, H. Moser at BWT Alpine F1 Team, Girard-Perregaux signed with the Atlassian Williams F1 Team in 2026 and Richard Mille is partnered with both Scuderia Ferrari HP and McLaren Mastercard F1 Team at the same time.
It is a concentration of horological investment with no parallel in global sport, and it speaks directly to the unique demographic that F1 offers its commercial partners.
Jefferson Slack, Managing Director Commercial at Aston Martin, articulated that appeal clearly when discussing the Breitling partnership with Sector. For the Swiss watchmaker, he argued, the question was not whether F1 made sense – it was whether any other platform came close.
“Where else would you go if you were Breitling?” he said.
“From a global standpoint, I get the NFL helps you in the United States, but what other sport is going to give you the combination of brand appeal and a global footprint and the ability to not only do watches with the Formula 1 team, but watches with Aston Martin, one of the greatest brands in cars.
“This is a global sport, it’s got history, Breitling has history in sport, Aston Martin’s got a lot of history in sport. It’s two amazing luxury brands. Those things are a completely natural.”
Where else would you go if you were Breitling? What other sport is going to give you the combination of brand appeal and a global footprint.
Jefferson Slack
The clearest illustration of the staying power of luxury parnterships in F1 sits at the very top of the sport’s commercial hierarchy.
The agreement signed between F1 and LVMH in 2024 runs from 2025 to 2034, making it one of the longest partnerships in the championship’s history.
Under a single commercial umbrella it delivers the aforementioned TAG Heuer as the sport’s Official Timekeeper, Louis Vuitton as an Official Partner and Moet Hennessy covering the podium ceremony – three distinct luxury brands bound into one structural commitment through the end of the decade and beyond in a combined $1billion deal.
At the time of the parntership being announced, Frederic Arnault, Chief Executive Officer of LVMH Watches, spoke of the shared core values.
“In recent years, Formula 1 has truly become one of the most desirable sports in the world,” he said.
“It’s a vibrant discipline that echoes a number of values that are very important to us, such as innovation, team spirit and performance.
“For many years, several of our Maisons have also chosen to invest in Formula 1, whether to create unique experiences or for moments of celebration.
Premium wines and spirits tell a similarly layered story. Glenfiddich sits at Aston Martin, Taittinger at TGR Haas F1 Team, Chivas Regal and G.H. Mumm at Ferrari, and NEFT Vodka at Racing Bulls – a spread of heritage drinks brands that reflects how deeply the category has embedded itself across the grid at every level, from global partner to team partner.
Established hospitality brands represent another underexamined corner of the commercial landscape. Hilton has held a partnership with McLaren since 2005 – a relationship now spanning two decades and multiple ownership changes at both organisations.
Marriott Bonvoy joined Mercedes in 2019 and remains embedded in the team’s global activation. World of Hyatt signed with Audi Revolut F1 Team for 2026, suggesting the category’s appetite for F1 partnerships shows no sign of cooling.
Perhaps the most overlooked legacy category on the grid is cruise lines. MSC Cruises holds both a Global F1 partnership and a separate arrangement with Alpine, while Regent serves as Global Cruise Line Partner to Aston Martin.
“Our partnership is founded on a shared dedication to excellence, innovation, and teamwork, building the future of our industries to leave a lasting legacy for generations to come,” Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman of The MSC Cruise Division, said when its deal with F1 was extended last year.
These are not impulsive activations – they are calculated plays for access to the affluent, internationally mobile audience that F1 uniquely aggregates across 22 race weekends a year.
Forty-nine partners across AI, fintech and cryptocurrency represent a genuine structural shift in who sees value in the sport’s platform, and the revenues and innovation those partnerships bring are significant.
The broader picture, however, is of a commercial ecosystem that continues to attract both – a sport whose appeal is wide enough to speak the language of Silicon Valley and LVMH’s Maisons at the same time.
