Driver image has come so sharply into focus so much so that after news broke that Hamilton would be leaving for Ferrari last year, Mercedes posted a job ad for a newly-created position: “Marketing operations driver clothing executive”. Responsibilities include dressing Russell as well as incoming rookie driver and new teammate Kimi Antonelli, and managing their outfits for official team appearances on and off the track in 2025.
What’s driving the growing investment in crafting driver image and F1’s sartorial ascent?
Well, what began as a side hobby of (mostly European) billionaires almost eight decades ago has evolved into the world’s most glamorous sport ever since the first race of the inaugural Formula One world championship series was held at the legendary Silverstone circuit in England in 1950.
But it was Liberty Media’s acquisition of the Formula One business in 2017 that catapulted the 75-year-old brand into global mainstream consciousness.
The US-based media giant, which has stakes in Xirius XM and Live Nation Entertainment among other major media assets, promptly debuted the Netflix series Formula 1: Drive to Survive in 2019, chronicling all the behind-the-scenes drama of the preceding 2018 championship season – and fanning excitement and anticipation ahead of the next race season.
The award-winning docudrama was a stroke of genius that offered viewers a rare peek of what went down not just on the racetrack but in the team garages of the motorsport series that had yet to crack the American market.
Trailing all 10 teams to every stop on the race calendar around the world, the hit series unmasked the key protagonists of the sport, showcasing the drivers’ and team bosses’ personalities and offering a glimpse into their personal lives like never before. The antics of the antagonists became water cooler fodder while some, like Mercedes team principal and Austrian billionaire Toto Wolff, unwittingly earned himself ‘zaddy’ status.
The show single-handedly lifted the veil on the once-ultra exclusive sport and six seasons in, it has garnered F1 a new fanbase of millions beyond motorsports enthusiasts.
Two new Grand Prixes on US soil were also added to the race calendar, which further steered the cultural zeitgeist from fast and furious to fashionable and fabulous.
