Within 48 hours of the start of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, two Formula 1 drivers were speeding down the palace carpet.
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc – once Ferrari team-mates, and now just grid-mates after the Spaniard moved to Williams – had photographers going wild when they appeared with their partners at the festival rallies. They earned an invitation to the festival by being global ambassadors for L’Oréal, but the truth is that Cannes, as the world’s leading center for international cinema, is desperate for a slice of the Formula 1 pie.
since Driving to survive Following the revival of the sport in 2018, the fan base has grown by more than 68 percent globally. “Formula 1 has already burst its banks,” says Rob Bloom, chief marketing officer at Aston Martin, the fastest-growing team on the grid. “It’s everywhere.”
The pace of Formula 1’s growth cannot be overstated. Bloom’s announcement is backed by statistics: In 2025, 1.83 billion people watched Formula 1, per Nielsen, up 6.8 percent from 2024. More than 43 percent of fans are now under 35, with female representation rising to 42 percent, and in the Aston Martin Aramco Formula 1 team, ahead of drivers Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, Their number is 30 to a growth of 40 percent year on year.
But it is no longer the on-track performance that determines the success of a Formula One team. What sets Aston Martin apart is its discovery of the power of fan engagement, commercial partnerships, and — as Brad Pitt and the producers did — its $630 billion box office hit F1: The movie RECOGNIZED – Hollywood Transformation of Formula 1.
“Over the years, Hollywood has honed its recipe, which is based on key ingredients,” says Stu Bedi, Aston Martin’s executive creative director. There’s the star power – in this case, the 22 best drivers in the world – he says, and the compelling story. The sport is characterized by its immersive cinematic world-building: it takes us to 24 races around the world every year, from Mexico City to Singapore, from Monaco to Melbourne. It also has the capabilities of the platform and the ability to create an entire ecosystem of creative assets and experiences around a race or team, Bedi continues. “If you think about Hollywood, it thrives because there are multiple stories. Formula 1 is the same,” Bedi says.
It’s no secret that Formula 1 is now as Hollywood as it ever was. At the Miami Grand Prix on May 3 alone, some of the notable names appearing trackside included Jimmy Fallon, Chase Infinity, Patrick Dempsey, Chance the Rapper, Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell, DJ Khaled and Lupita Nyong’o. “Every Grand Prix now feels like a major cultural event – almost like Super Bowl weekend,” says Jefferson Slack, Aston Martin’s managing director of commercial affairs.
“It attracts actors, musicians, athletes and global brands who want to be part of this atmosphere. Some are true fans of the sport, while others recognize that Formula 1 has become one of the biggest global platforms for audience, hospitality and brand exposure. We’ve also seen it work in the other direction as well, with drivers increasingly appearing at culturally relevant venues like film premieres, fashion events and things like the Met Gala.”
Despite what some may think, Sainz and Leclerc’s calls in Cannes made perfect sense. It reflects, Slack says, how Formula 1 has cemented its place at the intersection of sports, entertainment and popular culture.
With such a wealth of stardom at their fingertips, Aston Martin’s commercial and marketing arm immediately understood what could be achieved by investing in brand partnerships, fan activation and connecting with their target audience. Now, Hollywood is no longer just an influence on Formula 1, it is part of the framework. “We have intentionally positioned ourselves as less like a traditional racing team and more like a modern entertainment and luxury lifestyle franchise,” says Slack. THR.
Some great examples of this include commercial collaborations with The Rolling Stones and Disney toy story Before the fifth part of the series is released this summer. Aston Martin was the first team on the grid to boast an official skincare partner, Elemis, and its reach beyond motorsport into the wider cultural and luxury ecosystem has seen it form teams with Swiss watch empire Breitling, sports giant Puma and energy drinks company Celsius. “Take the South Beach pop-up at the Miami Grand Prix,” Bloom says. “It was about creating opportunities for people to engage with our team and our sport in different ways, and creating experiences that leaned into other fan interests, from Pilates classes to HIIT classes with the team. Or Celsius Running Club in Miami,” he adds. “This activation wasn’t about people achieving personal bests in a 5K race. It was about community: bringing 2,000 people together for a shared experience, united by a common interest around Formula One.”
It’s a method that Hollywood had no choice but to adhere to. takes The devil wears prada 2which has grossed an impressive $440 million at the global box office to date, fueled no doubt by the film’s collaborations with the likes of Diet Coke, Starbucks, Samsung Galaxy, Lancôme, TRESemmé, Havaianas, Gray Goose, Google, Mercedes-Benz, Tiffany & Co., and Dior. Barbie and evil I followed a similar blueprint, which helped discover the lucrative effects of connecting with your female audience.
“with [F1’s] The growth has created a whole new demographic of fans – especially in the United States – with a younger female audience. “Formula 1 is much richer for that,” says Bloom. At Aston Martin, they have made a role model out of driver ambassador and head of the Formula 1 Academy Jessica Hawkins, as well as Formula 1 Academy driver Matilda Patz.
“If we look five years ahead, what we really want is for the younger fans coming into the sport to see that Aston Martin Aramco is the team they naturally gravitate towards,” says Bedi. “At the same time, we will certainly continue to serve the traditional fans as well. Ultimately, we want everyone to feel like there is a place for them in this sport.”
Thus, there is another common denominator between Hollywood and Formula 1: the urgent need for inclusion. Formula 1, once considered an exclusive boys’ club, is experiencing something of a shift in terms of accessibility and communication, with teams increasingly aware of the need for gender equality off-track. When Aramco took over the livery for the 2025 US Grand Prix, Aston Martin called the campaign “Science Inside” and covered the car in aerodynamic equations and engineering formulas. “Rather than focusing solely on the visual identity of the car, we wanted to build a meaningful program designed to help inspire the next generation into careers in STEM and motorsports,” Bloom says.
If Formula 1 is the all-encompassing world of film and television, its drivers are the A-list stars, its technical teams are the talented production crews, and instead of a billion-dollar launch once a year, it is a momentous, narrative-rich, shocking event every two weeks. There are spin-off franchises, merchandise drops, celebrity stars, brand deals, and most importantly, an ever-growing box office crowd. And the difference? They’re all for it. “Transforming this sport into Hollywood has tremendous power to continue to inspire this generation,” Bloom adds.
