The BWT pink era at Alpine F1 is almost certainly done. Multiple reports surfacing this week place Gucci in serious talks to become Alpine's title sponsor starting in the 2027 Formula One season. If the deal closes, the team gets a new name, a new livery, and a completely new visual identity — and one of the most recognizable color schemes on the current F1 grid disappears overnight.
This is one of the biggest potential branding stories in recent F1 history.
Why This Is a Real Deal and Not Just a Rumor
The Gucci-Alpine link has a very specific reason to exist, and that reason is Luca de Meo.
De Meo spent years as CEO of Renault and was the architect behind the modern Alpine F1 program. He left Renault and is now CEO of Kering, the French luxury conglomerate that owns Gucci, Balenciaga, Saint Laurent, and Bottega Veneta. De Meo knows the Alpine paddock, knows the team, and now controls one of the most commercially valuable fashion brands in the world.
The business case writes itself. Gucci gets Formula One's global reach and the sport's exploding American fanbase. Alpine gets a title sponsor that immediately elevates the team's perceived prestige above every other car on the grid. The reported deal value sits between 30 and 60 million euros per year, a major step up from what BWT was paying for pink branding rights.
BWT's current title deal expires at the end of the 2026 season. The timing of these Gucci reports is not a coincidence.
What Alpine Said — and Didn't Say
Alpine issued a statement on May 14, 2026, and it is the language of a team that is not ready to confirm but is not going to deny either.
The team said it is "constantly looking for new partnership opportunities" and in contact with "a wide range of brands and companies as potential partners," adding that discussions are "kept confidential" until confirmed by all parties.
That is not a no. That is precisely what a team says when something real is happening and the contracts are not signed yet.
What Alpine Is Walking Away From: The BWT Pink Era
BWT turned the Alpine F1 car pink starting in the 2022 season, and the reaction from the F1 design community has been divided ever since. The bright pink and blue combination became one of the most instantly recognizable liveries on the grid, which is genuinely rare for a midfield team that is not regularly contending for wins.
The 2026 A526 continues the same formula: Alpine's heritage blue paired with BWT's signature hot pink. On a television broadcast, you can always find the Alpine. That on-screen visibility is a real asset, and it is something the team would be trading away if Gucci arrives with an entirely different color palette.
Whether that trade is worth making depends entirely on what Gucci brings to the car.
What a Gucci Alpine F1 Livery Could Actually Look Like
This is the most important question for anyone who follows Formula One for the visual side of the sport, and the honest answer is that the possibilities are genuinely exciting.
Gucci's brand identity is built around a very specific set of visual codes: the iconic green and red double-stripe, cream and tan base tones, the interlocking GG monogram, and a Florentine Italian luxury aesthetic that exists nowhere else in global sport. None of those elements are anywhere on the current F1 grid.
The most likely direction for a Gucci Alpine livery would be a dark, sophisticated base. Think deep navy, forest green, or near-black, with the Gucci red-and-green stripe running the length of the sidepod. Gold accents replacing the BWT pink. The GG monogram on the nose or halo. The result would look less like a racing car and more like something that belongs in a store window on Via Condotti in Florence.
That would be either the most visually arresting thing that has ever appeared at a Formula One race or a fashion editorial that forgot it needs to survive 70 laps at 200 miles per hour. There is no middle ground with a brand like Gucci.
What it would not look like is any other car on the grid. In a sport where most liveries are still variations on a dark base with sponsor logos applied on top, a legitimate Gucci livery treatment would be one of the most talked-about design moments in F1 history.
The Bigger Picture: Fashion and Formula One
The Gucci-Alpine story is part of a broader shift in who wants to be in Formula One right now. The sport's audience has expanded dramatically over the last five years, particularly in the United States and among younger fans who were not following F1 in the V10 era. That new audience skews younger, skews urban, and cares about brands in a different way than the traditional motorsport fanbase.
LVMH's deal with Formula One at the championship level was the first signal. Gucci potentially taking over an entire team is a different level entirely. If this happens, it sets a precedent for what F1 team sponsorship can look like, and every other fashion house with a global ambition will be paying attention.
The Bottom Line on Alpine F1 and Gucci
The deal is not confirmed. Alpine is not saying yes or no publicly. But the Luca de Meo connection turns what would otherwise be a wild rumor into a credible business story, and the expiring BWT deal makes 2027 the obvious window for it to happen.
If Gucci becomes the Alpine title sponsor for 2027, the BWT pink is done, the team gets the most fashion-branded livery in the history of Formula One, and the Alpine F1 car becomes the most talked-about piece of sports branding on the planet for at least one offseason.
We will be grading it the moment it drops.
