How Tommy Hilfiger is using star power and heritage to shape the Cadillac Formula 1 Team debut
It’s been two years since Formula 1 gave the Cadillac Formula 1® Team the green light to join the grid in 2026—the first expansion in nearly a decade. The move, of course, sent shockwaves through the sport as the typically 10-team field made room for an 11th player. It also signalled a deliberate gear shift in its once traditional confines, welcoming a new American powerhouse at a time when F1’s global momentum has never been stronger. Perhaps just as importantly, the addition delivered what the modern championship thrives on: spectacle, scale, and brands with the power to turn motorsport credibility into mainstream desirability—a crossover fellow American icon Tommy Hilfiger has pioneered for decades.
From his early days sponsoring Team Lotus and Ferrari in the ’90s to the more recent partnership surrounding F1® the Movie and the launch of The Hilfiger Racing Club in 2025, the Tommy Hilfiger brand has long occupied a place in the driver’s seat, bridging the gap between sport and style. No longer two separate entities but one and the same.
Tommy Hilfiger’s next landmark chapter arrives in partnership with the Cadillac Formula 1® Team, specifically as the team’s exclusive apparel partner, timed for its debut in Melbourne later this month. The collaboration brings together American racing heritage with Hilfiger’s modern prep signatures, colouring the paddock in a co-branded palette of red, white and black. Where Tommy brings a polished, enduring take on American cool, the preppy kind that sticks and makes its mark with ease in modern-day wardrobes, the Cadillac Formula 1® Team injects energy and precision. Those qualities translate across everyday staples—polos, tees and drivers’ caps—while blocked rugbies, hoodies and varsity jackets spike the collection with Hilfiger’s hallmark collegiate twist. But it’s those little track-inspired details that anchor the fanwear collection, the checkered flags and speedometers set alongside the Tommy flag logo and the iconic Cadillac shield.
Driving the vision are Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas, two formidable figures in Formula 1. This season, the veteran pair steps in as drivers for the Cadillac Formula 1® Team, bringing a combined tally of more than 500 Grand Prix’ and 16 victories. Pérez’s influence extends beyond racing; as Global Menswear Ambassador for Tommy Hilfiger, he lends his reliable presence and global star power to the brand’s modern vision of performance-led style.
As the Cadillac Formula 1® Team prepares for its inaugural run onto the grid, a fully considered year-round fanwear and replica offering ensures the team arrives with a defined identity both on and off the circuit. It is, after all, the meeting of two American icons united by a single ambition: to redefine what an American team in Formula 1 can look and feel like.
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