FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium — Moët & Chandon is betting on Formula 1 to help it race ahead of the competition.
The Champagne brand on Sunday celebrated a milestone in its historic relationship with the motorsports championship: the Belgian Grand Prix was its first as title sponsor of a race since parent company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton signed a 10-year deal to become the global luxury partner of Formula 1.
The day before the race, Sibylle Scherer, chief executive officer of Moët & Chandon, stood on the starting grid at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit and beamed as she looked up at the red-and-white brand logo emblazoned above the starting lights.
“It’s a homecoming,” she told WWD later that day in the Cool Down Room, the space where the top three drivers regroup before the podium ceremony. Moët & Chandon redesigned the space with berths for their helmets, in addition to introducing a new champion’s corridor leading up to the podium at Spa.
Decked out in its signature red with white neon speed stripes, the walk of fame had previous winners’ names printed on the floor. At the outcome of a race that was delayed due to heavy rain, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s name was added to the roster, as he celebrated his win by spraying a jeroboam of Moët & Chandon.
American driver Dan Gurney started the tradition by showering guests, including Henry Ford II, with Moët & Chandon at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1967. Four years later, the brand began presenting jeroboams of Brut Impérial to the winners of Formula 1 races, becoming the sport’s official Champagne from 1981 to 1997.
Race winner Oscar Piastri leaves the podium with his trophy and Champagne during the Formula 1 Moët & Chandon Belgian Grand Prix 2025.
Formula 1 via Getty Images/Courtesy of Moët & Chandon
“That’s the big advantage that we have: it’s joining a great past with a great future. We’re not newcomers into this that look at it as a marketing thing. I think we have a lot of credibility, because we’re so much a part of the tapestry of this sport,” said Scherer. “For the drivers, Moët belongs on the podium.”
The brand’s major presence at Spa symbolized its ambitions in F1, one of two key pillars for its promotional activities this year, alongside its collaboration with Pharrell Williams.
The initiatives come amid a slump in Champagne sales, with total shipments down 9.2 percent year-on-year in 2024 due to inflation and geopolitical uncertainty, according to producers’ association Comité Champagne.
“Short-term, of course, it gives us visibility, but I think it’s way more than visibility for us. It’s authentic connection. This is where you craft emotions,” said Scherer. “And of course, there’s a next generation that is falling in love with Formula 1, and that is also, hopefully for us, the next generation of Moët & Chandon lovers.”
A Shared History
Emphasizing shared values of passion, precision, technology and teamwork, she stressed that Moët & Chandon, founded in 1743, takes a long-term view.
“That’s why we’re so happy to have signed a 10-year contract. This is not an ‘in and out.’ This is a relationship that is built on authenticity, that’s built on a long tradition dating back to the ‘50s,” she remarked.
Oscar Piastri leads the field away at the race start during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Belgian Grand Prix.
Formula 1 via Getty Images/Courtesy of Moët & Chandon
The race at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit is unique both in terms of its proximity to the Champagne vineyards and its historic ties to the brand.
The Spa track has been a part of Formula 1 since the inaugural FIA World Championship in 1950. That year, Argentine driver Juan Manuel Fangio won both at Spa and at the French Grand Prix in Reims, where Frédéric Chandon de Briailles presented him with a bottle of Moët & Chandon.
The relationship deepened the following year, when Fangio triumphed again in France and was invited to celebrate at Moët & Chandon’s Château de Saran, a stately home where the brand now hosts guests on an invitation-only basis.
At its VIP lounge overlooking the pit lane, a video showed a hot air balloon shaped like a Champagne cork making the journey from Château de Saran to the Spa track. Elsewhere in the Paddock Club hospitality area, vintage Moët & Chandon bottles signed by world champions including Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and Alain Prost were on display.
To commemorate the Belgian Grand Prix, Moët & Chandon produced a limited-edition version of the celebratory jeroboam, available to private clients only. This numbered edition, priced at 35,000 euros, is engraved with the name of the three winning drivers of the race alongside the name of the buyer.
Jacques Villeneuve, who won the Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship in 1997 with Williams, said his early memories of the sport are intertwined with Moët.
Race winner Oscar Piastri, second placed Lando Norris and third placed Charles Leclerc celebrate on the podium during the F1 Belgian Grand Prix.
Getty Images/Courtesy of Moët & Chandon
“I love the history of motorsport in general, of what built this sport, and Moët & Chandon is part of what I saw when I watched Formula 1 and what I experienced in my best years,” he said during a meet-and-greet at the brand lounge.
“It was a shame later on when there were years without any Champagne at all. It makes the podium feel a little naked, no?” he added. “The presence of Moët & Chandon and the LVMH group signals a concrete return to the roots of Formula 1, because Formula 1 is not new — except that now, it’s become cool again to love cars.”
A Global Phenomenon
Moët & Chandon treats VICs at the 24 Grand Prix races worldwide to special experiences including paddock tours, pit lane walks and track truck tours, but it’s equally keen to address a growing global audience that follows the sport from afar, thanks in part to the Netflix series “Formula 1: Drive to Survive,” now in its seventh season.
As it celebrates its 75th anniversary, Formula 1 has a global fanbase of 826.5 million, an increase of 90 million over the 2023 season driven by a surge in Chinese fans, according to Nielsen Sports.
Moët, which is distributed in 150 countries, is reaching those viewers mainly through its Instagram account, which has 913,000 followers. “That’s where we tell our stories. We want to have as many people participate as possible in these incredible moments,” Scherer explained. “Formula 1 is really a global phenomenon.”
At the heart of its storytelling is the slogan: “Victory is better when shared.”
Sibylle Scherer
Courtesy of Moët & Chandon
As Moët & Chandon deepens its relationship with F1 organizers and teams, it’s exploring ways to help the sport become more sustainable and diverse through initiatives including F1 Academy, an all-women single-seater racing championship with seven races coinciding with the Formula 1 calendar.
Formula 1 has committed to achieving a net-zero carbon footprint by 2030, and starting in 2026, F1 cars will use 100 percent sustainable fuels. Scherer believes the sport can drive innovation that will benefit other sectors. “Sometimes we forget that,” she mused.
Moët & Chandon conducts research into climate change and biodiversity at its own research center in the Champagne region. “For us, of course, sustainability is key, because without a sustainable environment, we don’t have any grapes anymore,” Scherer said.
Moët & Chandon is only at the beginning of its new chapter with F1, she believes.
“We learn as we go. We are in a long-term partnership. Cool Down Room didn’t exist last year in that format. We invented it, and this is also what Formula 1 wants from us. They’re looking to us for an elevation, and they feel we’re a good partner to do that,” Scherer said. “We want to build and create and have new ideas along the way.”
