It is officially official. Gucci just confirmed it is taking over Alpine F1 as the team's title partner starting with the 2027 Formula One season, ending the BWT pink era, and renaming the squad the Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team. The announcement landed on May 27, 2026 across Gucci's official channels and on Formula 1's own press wire, and it makes Gucci the first luxury fashion house to ever serve as title partner of a Formula 1 team. The Alpine F1 livery you have been watching all 2026 season is officially in its final months on the grid.
This is one of the biggest branding stories in modern F1 history and the receipts are all there.
ColorWay Sports composite · Alpine F1 + Gucci logos
Gucci Is Officially in Formula One and It Is a Title Partner
The headline number: Gucci is paying real money to make this happen. Reports from The Race and BlackBook Motorsport put the multi-year deal at around US$50 million to US$60 million per season, taking the total contract value north of US$150 million over three years. That immediately makes it one of the largest non-engine title sponsorship deals on the current F1 grid and a clear step up from what BWT had been paying for the pink branding rights since 2022.
The team will compete as the Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team starting in 2027. Same Enstone factory, same Renault engine program, same race drivers. Completely new commercial identity at the front of the car.
Francesca Bellettini, Gucci's President and CEO, said the partnership "writes a new chapter" for the brand and that Gucci is the first luxury fashion house ever to serve as title partner in Formula 1. Flavio Briatore, Alpine's executive advisor, called it something he is "incredibly proud of." Both quotes ran with the official press announcement on May 27, 2026.
What the New Gucci Racing Alpine F1 Livery Will Look Like
This is the question everyone is going to be asking for the next twelve months, and there are real teaser details in the announcement materials already.
The early imagery from the launch points to an elegant black base livery with a red and green stripe running on either side of the gold interlocked GG monogram. That is Gucci's most recognizable visual code lifted straight from the brand identity and applied to a Formula 1 car for the first time in the sport's history. Sources close to the team have also said Alpine is keen to retain some of its heritage blue inside the new color story, which would give the 2027 car a black, gold, red, green, and blue palette that does not exist anywhere else on the current F1 grid.
Compare that to where Alpine sits right now: heritage blue paired with BWT hot pink and a midfield car that has always been one of the most instantly recognizable shapes on a Sunday broadcast. That pink visibility is a genuine on-screen asset the team is trading away, but it is trading it for a color palette that turns the Alpine into a moving Gucci editorial.
If the launch livery actually lands the way the early teasers suggest, the 2027 Gucci Racing Alpine F1 car will be the most fashion-branded racing car in Formula 1 history and one of the most photographed vehicles of the entire 2027 season.
Gucci Racing Is a New Business Platform, Not Just a Sponsorship
This is the detail that signals how serious Gucci is about Formula 1. The brand did not just buy sponsorship space on the Alpine sidepods. Gucci launched an entirely new business unit called Gucci Racing alongside the title partner announcement.
The official Gucci statement describes Gucci Racing as "a new business and experiential platform built around the values of performance, precision, discipline, and excellence at the intersection of luxury and sport." Translation: this is a permanent fashion-meets-motorsport vertical inside Gucci that will produce racewear-influenced collections, paddock experiences, brand activations, and retail moments across the entire F1 calendar.
That is a much bigger commitment than a typical sponsorship deal. It also means the 2027 launch is the start of a long-term Gucci-in-F1 strategy, not a one-season trial run. Other Kering brands (Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga) now have a clear template to follow if they want to enter motorsport too.
Why This Deal Actually Happened: The Luca de Meo Connection
You cannot tell the Gucci Alpine F1 story without telling the Luca de Meo story.
De Meo spent years as the CEO of Renault and was the architect behind the modern Alpine F1 program. He knows the team, the paddock, the budget, and the commercial structure of Formula 1 better than almost any luxury executive on the planet. He left Renault and is now the CEO of Kering, the French luxury conglomerate that owns Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, and Bottega Veneta.
The deal is, at its core, a relationship deal. De Meo and Flavio Briatore have a working history that goes back years inside the Renault and Alpine ecosystems. When Kering needed Gucci to make a bigger global moment in sport and Alpine needed a title partner that would actually move the commercial needle, the conversation was already wired up.
This is why the May 2026 rumors moved from "possible" to "very likely" almost overnight, and why the official announcement landed exactly on the timeline the early reports projected.
The BWT Pink Era at Alpine F1 Is Officially Done
BWT turned the Alpine F1 car pink starting in 2022 and the polarizing pink and blue combination has been one of the most instantly recognizable liveries on the grid ever since. Whether you loved it or hated it, you could always find the Alpine on a broadcast. That kind of on-screen visibility is genuinely rare for a midfield team that has not regularly contended for wins.
The 2026 A526 is the final BWT-era Alpine F1 car. The hot pink, the BWT blue side panels, the entire pink-and-blue color story disappears at the end of this season. Anyone hunting for an A526 1:43 model or a 2026 Alpine F1 team kit should be doing it now, because the BWT colorway officially becomes a closed chapter of F1 history the moment the 2026 season ends in Abu Dhabi. Shop Alpine F1 team gear on Fanatics while the BWT-era look is still on shelves.
The Bigger Picture: Fashion Houses Are Coming for Formula One
This is the part that matters beyond just one team and one season.
LVMH cut a championship-level deal with Formula 1 last year that put Louis Vuitton, TAG Heuer, and Moët at the top of the grid. That was the first signal that the luxury fashion sector saw Formula 1 as the next premium sport to colonize. Gucci taking over an entire team is a different level entirely. This is title sponsorship. This is car branding. This is a permanent business unit.
Every other fashion conglomerate now has a decision to make. Richemont owns Cartier and Montblanc. Kering still has Saint Laurent and Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta sitting on the shelf. Prada, Chanel, Hermès all have global ambitions and currently zero direct presence in top-flight motorsport. If Gucci Racing Alpine F1 hits in 2027 the way Gucci is betting it will, the 2028 and 2029 F1 silly season is going to look completely different.
The era of telecom companies, energy drinks, and crypto exchanges as default F1 title partners is officially over. Luxury fashion just walked in.
The Bottom Line on Gucci Racing Alpine F1 in 2027
Gucci is officially the title partner of Alpine F1 starting in 2027. The team name is Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team. BWT pink is done at the end of 2026. The livery direction is black, gold, red, green, and probably some heritage blue. Gucci Racing is a permanent new business platform inside Gucci, not a one-year experiment.
The 2027 Gucci Racing Alpine F1 car is going to be the most talked-about piece of sports branding on the planet the moment it drops. We will be grading it.
For our pre-confirmation reporting and the deeper backstory on the Luca de Meo Kering connection, see our earlier story on the Alpine F1 Gucci title sponsor rumor and what the BWT era car was trading away.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Gucci officially take over Alpine F1?
Yes. On May 27, 2026, Gucci officially announced it will become the title partner of the Alpine Formula One Team starting with the 2027 FIA Formula One World Championship season. The team will race as the Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team. The announcement landed across Gucci's official channels and on Formula 1's own press wire.
When does the Gucci Racing Alpine F1 deal start?
The deal officially begins with the 2027 F1 season. The 2026 A526 is the final BWT-era Alpine F1 car. The BWT pink and blue color story disappears from the F1 grid at the end of the 2026 season in Abu Dhabi.
What will the new Gucci Racing Alpine F1 livery look like?
Early imagery from the launch points to an elegant black base livery with a red and green stripe on either side of the gold interlocked GG monogram. Alpine is also keen to retain some of its heritage blue, which would give the 2027 car a black, gold, red, green, and blue color story that does not exist anywhere else on the F1 grid.
How much is the Gucci Alpine F1 deal worth?
Reports from The Race and BlackBook Motorsport put the multi-year deal at around US$50 million to US$60 million per season, taking the total contract value north of US$150 million over three years. The official deal length and value were not disclosed in the press announcement.
Why is the new team name Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team?
Title partner naming rights. Gucci paid for the right to put its name in front of the team's official name starting in 2027. This is the same naming convention F1 teams have used for decades when a title partner signs on, including Marlboro McLaren, Lucky Strike BAR, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, and BWT Alpine.
Is Gucci the first luxury fashion brand to be an F1 title partner?
Yes. Gucci's official statement confirmed Gucci is the first luxury fashion house ever to serve as title partner in Formula 1. LVMH's championship-level deal that put Louis Vuitton, TAG Heuer, and Moët across the F1 calendar last year was a sport-level partnership, not a team-level title sponsorship.
What is Gucci Racing?
Gucci Racing is a new business and experiential platform Gucci launched alongside the Alpine F1 title sponsorship announcement. The platform is described as built around the values of performance, precision, discipline, and excellence at the intersection of luxury and sport, and it is a permanent vertical inside the brand, not just a one-season activation.
Who is Luca de Meo and how is he connected to the Gucci Alpine F1 deal?
Luca de Meo is the current CEO of Kering, the French luxury conglomerate that owns Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, and Bottega Veneta. He previously spent years as CEO of Renault, the parent company of Alpine, and was the architect behind the modern Alpine F1 program. The Gucci Alpine deal is built directly on his existing relationships with Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore and the Enstone team structure.
Is BWT leaving Alpine F1?
Yes. BWT's title sponsorship of the Alpine F1 Team officially ends at the conclusion of the 2026 F1 season. Gucci becomes the new title partner from the start of the 2027 F1 season under the Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team name.
Who are the Alpine F1 drivers in 2027?
The 2027 driver lineup has not been confirmed alongside the Gucci title partner announcement. The Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team will run the same Renault engine program from the Enstone factory regardless of which drivers fill the two seats for the 2027 season.
