E-Paper
Sign In
Fri, Jan 16, 2026 | Rajab 27, 1447 | Fajr 05:45 | DXB 
22.3°C
iPhone | iPad
Android
Beyonce's viral style, 'Drive to Survive': How F1 became fashion’s trendiest property
The intersection of sport and style reaches fever pitch at this weekend’s F1 season finisher in Abu Dhabi
If you were in doubt that Formula 1 is the hottest ticket on the sports-fashion circuit, I refer you to Beyoncé’s Internet-breaking appearance at the Las Vegas Grand Prix last month. Wearing a va-va-voom white leather driving suit, unzipped straight down the middle of a crystal Louis Vuitton logo, and accessorised with a similarly sparkling Vuitton race helmet, followed by an outfit change into a Ferrari red vinyl bodysuit, she looked fire. While my 13-year-old daughter would tell me off for using lingo she feels is reserved for Gen Alpha, it’s women like me and girls like my daughter that F1 has firmly in its sights. No wonder Jay-Z was little more than a sideshow to Beyoncé’s smoke show. Women now make up a reported 42 per cent of F1’s 825 million global fan base. We binge-watch Netflix’s Drive to Survive, we applaud and reward brands that support greater opportunities for women in the sport (to wit: beauty behemoth Charlotte Tilbury’s sponsorship of F1 Academy, Formula 1’s female driver development project), and we spend more time than we should wondering if we too could pull off a leather jumpsuit with as much aplomb as Beyoncé. Answer to the latter: unlikely, but a sporty Vuitton Keepall Bandoulière 25, Dh8,950, might just do the trick. Hence, LVMH’s 10-year global partnership with the sport, unveiled earlier this year. Louis Vuitton is providing bespoke trophy trunks for major Grand Prix circuits, while remaining front and centre to a viewership thrilling to the combination of technical mastery, elite athleticism, off-the-charts glamour, and unapologetic excess. What more could a luxury fashion brand want from its audience?
This weekend, F1’s 75th anniversary crosses the chequered flag in the UAE capital, at the sport’s only twilight event. Last year, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix reached 77.8m viewers worldwide, with 192,000 fans attending over the four-day spectacle. Given the sunset-to-floodlit timing of the Abu Dhabi race, layers are key. For a watered-down version of Beyoncé’s race day style, look to a sporty white racer vest topped with a leather bomber. The oversized moto jackets by Helsa (a brand that can do no wrong in my eyes), Dh2,624, available online at Revolve, will see you from the track through to the chill of a UAE January in pole position. Revolve also sells official McLaren F1 merch (the word merch does the on-point styling a disservice), likewise Reiss’s McLaren pieces are as stylish as they are sporty. Tommy Hilfiger’s long association with F1 fashion poster boy Lewis Hamilton (insiders call Grand Prix weekends Hamilton’s Fashion Week), make the US-brand a smart go-to. The partnership may have ended with Hamilton’s move from Mercedes to Ferrari (Hilfiger’s now with new-for-2026 US team Cadillac F1), but a Hilfiger logo-embossed white cotton shirt looks excellent on F1 Academy boss Susie Wolff, and it will do on you, too. Accessorise with a Paddock-access lanyard for bonus points.
Recommended For You
Before Drive to Survive hit screens in 2019, revealing the human side of the drivers under the helmets, women were just 20 per cent of all Grand Prix attendees. Now, with TikTok documenting the sport in female audience friendly formats, the likes of Emirati racing sisters Amna and Hamda Al Qubaisi appearing on Netflix’s F1: The Academy, and Beyoncé-esque celebrities treating the pit lane walk like a catwalk (encouraged in no small part by the likes of Louis Vuitton), the F1 fashion stakes have never been higher. And they’ll be played out from the Yas Marina Circuit grid to our Instagram grids all weekend. In 2023, F1’s earned media value across its teams and drivers on Instagram was $1.4bn (Dh5.1bn), second only to UEFA Champions League, and higher than the NBA, NFL and Wimbledon. I expect by the end of this Sunday’s title-deciding race, that number will have soared. Especially if Beyoncé swings by.
Don’t just scroll. Know it all. Sign up for your daily UAE news fix.
Get the top stories of the day right in your inbox.
