Open the history annuls and you’ll find celebrities and WAGs – the wives and girlfriends of drivers – visible in the paddock for decades. Think Nicole Schwerzinger in the late 2000s and early 2010s when she was associated with Lewis Hamilton. And more recently, ex-Spice Girl Geri Horner, the wife of the former F1 Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. Even back in the 1970s, the lives of drivers away from the sport were of widespread intrigue in the media, notably James Hunt.
But the 2025 season attracted some of F1’s biggest names to races to date – with an arguably younger and more global appeal. Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Jennifer Lopez, Timothée Chalamet and Rosé and Lisa from BLACKPINK, to name a few.
In the new series of Drive to Survive, there are frequent shots of drivers’ partners, such as Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc’s fiancée Alexandra Saint Mleux, or Williams driver Carlos Sainz’s model girlfriend Rebecca Donaldson in high fashion outfits.
Matt Elisofon, co-host of the F1-focused Red Flags Podcast, tells the BBC “there were more British celebrities in the Ecclestone era”. He references a famously chaotic interaction between late British rocker Ozzy Osbourne and F1 reporter Martin Brundle on a live TV grid walk at a race in 2003. Nowadays, you’re more likely to see the likes of American actor “Will Smith in Abu Dhabi”, Elisofon says.
“It’s just taking on a whole new dimension that’s a lot more global, a lot more Hollywood, Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift’s fiancé is investing, Patrick Mahomes is investing [in the Alpine F1 team] which is relatively new,” he adds.
As a new season rolls around, some fans have been speculating about whether Kim Kardashian will attend any races, after she was spotted at the Super Bowl earlier this month sitting alongside Ferrari driver Hamilton – himself long a trailblazer in F1 for unorthodox fashion looks and celebrity.
“I’m all about her being in the paddock,” says Brian Muller, the other half of The Red Flags Podcast.