I couldn’t tell you much about Formula One racing three days ago. I could tell you I loved Rihanna’s hair at a previous F1 race, and I could name a total of one driver, Lewis Hamilton, mainly because the internet is always talking about how good he looks. Fast-forward to a weekend at the Vegas Grand Prix. Suddenly, I’m a fan.
I attended the race with Dermalogica, a professional-grade skin-care brand mostly beloved for its cult-favorite Daily Microfoliant Exfoliator. Admittedly, my first thought was this: What is a skin-care brand doing at F1? It just didn’t feel as fitting as a fashion brand like Tommy Hilfiger or Puma, which always have a presence at the race and usually dress drivers. But, it turns out, there is a growing space for beauty. Earlier this year, Charlotte Tilbury became the first beauty brand to sponsor F1 Academy, using the platform to champion female drivers; earlier this year, drivers wore Charlotte Tilbury race suits at a Miami race.
F1 isn’t the only sport where beauty is slowly finding its way: The 2024 Super Bowl had its first-ever beauty ads from NYX Cosmetics and e.l.f. Beauty. Plus: Last year, Mielle Organics, a textured-hair brand, announced a multiyear partnership with the WNBA. It’s clearly a big year for beauty in sports.
“I absolutely think there’s space for beauty in Formula 1,” Toni Cowan-Brown, an F1 commentator, said. Cowan-Brown attended her first F1 race with her dad in 1991 in Brussels. Since moving to the United States in 2019 (when F1’s popularity started growing), she’s been to every American race and witnessed the recent uptick in brands buying into the sport. “People are more likely to buy high-luxury lipsticks and nail polishes than clothes because they want something that makes them feel good. I wonder if there’s an element of that that could also be applied to Formula 1,” she said. Cowan-Brown added that drivers like Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, and Lando Norris have been vocal about the mental pressures of this sport. Russell has openly discussed how beneficial speaking to a psychologist both inside and outside the F1 cockpit has been for him. “The logical next step, if we’re taking care of ourselves mentally and physically, would be why not take care of our skin, too,” Cowan-Brown said.
As more diverse fans come into the sport, there’s an opportunity for more diverse brands to be a part of it as well. As opposed to entering the race through the lens of drivers, Dermalogica approached it from a fan perspective. Sure, there are still driver meet-and-greets (Lewis Hamilton’s was very packed), but Dermalogica was kind of like, well, a “pit stop” for your skin. It was complete with professional skin therapists doing facial treatments and skin-care experts educating fans about the products. They even had tags that said “mechanics.”
Two 19-year-old girls standing in line eagerly awaiting to enter the pit stop were big fans of F1. They were especially excited when the F1 Academy was announced because seeing women drivers is “inspiring. ” They didn’t know much about their skin, so they were standing in line hoping to learn their skin type. “I honestly just keep seeing influencers on TikTok use the brand, so I want to see if there’s something here that can help me because it gets dry here,” one of them said.
There is a growing number of female fans in F1, because swoon. So it makes perfect sense for beauty brands to want a piece of the pie. Plus: The future of beauty is constantly changing and evolving, from how brands are meeting consumers to the way TikTok is shifting how people interact with beauty. Only time will tell how long until we see it across all sporting events. What’s next? A facial at a Knicks game? A New York girl can only dream.
