A lot has changed in Formula 1 (F1) ahead of the 2026 season. There are new teams, updated regulations, and, most relevant to us at Oracle Time, new watch partnerships. With the first Grand Prix weekend set to begin on 6 March 2026 in Australia, the hype is starting to build, and storylines are already beginning to unfold. Will Lando Norris retain his title? Can Max Verstappen reclaim his dominance? Will this be George Russell’s year to prove himself as a title contender? While we can’t answer those questions yet, we can take a look at the best F1 drivers’ watches of 2026.
Aston Martin: Breitling
For the 2026 season, Aston Martin are now partnered with Breitling instead of Girard-Perregaux. It’s a connection built on a shared cultural history, with a Breitling wristwatch and an Aston Martin DB5 both making an appearance in the James Bond film Thunderball. The partnership is still in its infancy, so it will be fun to see it grow over time, though they have already launched their first collaboration watch with the Aston Martin Navitimer.
Lance Stroll & Fernando Alonso: Breitling Navitimer B01 Chronograph 43 Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team
Lance has wasted no time in strapping on the new Breitling Navitimer B01 Chronograph 43 Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team. The choice for a Navitimer as the base watch, rather than the more traditionally motoring-themed Top Time, comes from historic instances of F1 drivers using the slide rule on the Navitimer to assist in calculating lap times and fuel consumption.
Fernando Alonso’s situation is unique in the F1 space this season, though not completely unheard of with other drivers or athletes at times. Essentially, he is personally an ambassador for Richard Mille and has produced partnership watches with that brand instead of his team’s partnership. However, in some of the official Aston Martin 2026 season launch imagery, he’s clearly wearing the recently launched aforementioned Navitimer.
Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS: IWC
International Watch Company (IWC) continue to be the official watch partner of Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS, providing a wide range of wristwatches to the drivers, engineers, and team leadership. For a long time it was Lewis Hamilton who provided the style impetus to the collaboration watches but since his departure to Ferrari, the focus has been on generic team watches like the Pilot’s Watch Mark XX Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One™ Team. However, for 2026 the collaborative focus is back on the drivers, particularly George Russell…
George Russell: IWC Pilot’s Watch 41 Chronograph George Russell
For the first collaboration to bear his name, the IWC Pilot’s Watch 41 Chronograph George Russell is the right mix of familiarity and newness. It has the signature 41mm case and vertical tricompax chronograph display of the Pilot’s Watch collection, but now presented in black ceramic with medium blue accents across the hands and hour markers that match the colour of Russell’s signature helmet and gloves.
Kimi Antonelli: Pilot’s Watch Mark XX Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One™ Team
Kimi has been seen wearing the aforementioned Pilot’s Watch Mark XX Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One™ Team. The case is presented in steel, and the accent colour is teal rather than blue. It’s powered by the IWC calibre 32111 with a 120-hour power reserve.
Oracle Red Bull Racing: Tag Heuer
TAG Heuer and Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) took a bigger role in Formula 1 in the 2025 season, becoming the official partners for the entire event, as well as TAG Heuer becoming the first title sponsor for Monaco. Through all these changes, though, TAG Heuer remains the official watch partner for Red Bull, with new releases typically themed around the Monaco and Las Vegas races. They’ll be hoping for a return to form for Max Verstappen and the latest hopeful in (cursed) seat two, Isack Hadjar.
Max Verstappen: Tag Heuer Carrera Chronograph
While around the racetrack Verstappen normally sports the latest sporty Monaco chronograph, at a pre-season event he was photographed wearing a more luxurious offering: the Tag Heuer Carrera Chronograph in full gold. It has a 39mm case in yellow gold with a matching brushed dial and contrasting black subdials.
Isack Hadjar: Tag Heuer Formula 1 Chronograph x Oracle Red Bull Racing
As the new kid on the block, it’s not surprising that Hadjar’s collection of TAG Heuers is somewhat limited, coming over from his previous partnership with Tudor. As such, in the pre-season he’s been wearing the thematically appropriate TAG Heuer Formula 1 Chronograph x Oracle Red Bull Racing collaboration in the team’s colours.
Racing Bulls: Tudor
While the team has undergone several changes of name in recent years, Racing Bulls has maintained a partnership with Tudor for a few seasons now. There’s been a handful of unique pieces and extremely limited special editions, making me wonder if we’ll ever see a fully fledged collaboration timepiece in the permanent collections. In the drivers’ seats for them this year are Liam Lawson and newcomer Arvid Lindblad.
Liam Lawson: Black Bay Chrono Pink
In a similar manner to how George Russell has his signature blue helmet, Liam Lawson’s signature colour is pink. Fortunately, Tudor have a watch in their repertoire that matches pretty damn perfectly: the Black Bay Chrono Pink. Initially launched in celebration of their partnership with Inter Miami, it has now become one of the modern classics of the Tudor brand.
Arvid Lindblad: Black Bay Chrono
At just 18 years old, Arvid Lindblad is the youngest driver on the grid this season. He’s not the youngest of all time, though, because that honour goes to Max Verstappen at 17. He’s kicking off his F1 journey with the Tudor Black Bay Chrono in a traditional panda colour scheme by his side. It’s a solid choice with its historic connection to motorsport and racing, via Tudor’s older sibling Rolex and the Cosmograph Daytona panda.
McLaren: Richard Mille
McLaren were the dominant force in F1 last year, with Oscar Piastri leading the charge in the early season before being overtaken (literally and figuratively) by teammate Lando Norris, who went on to win the whole thing. Their longstanding wristwatch partner is Richard Mille, who have produced special editions for Lando in the past, such as the customised version of the extra-flat RM 67-02, which he’s wearing in the 2026 campaign imagery.
Lando Norris: Richard Mille RM 72-01 Automatic Flyback Chronograph
At this point it would probably be easier to list the Richard Mille watches that Lando hasn’t worn at some point or other. At the start of the year he shared a series of images with him wearing the Richard Mille RM 72-01 Automatic Flyback Chronograph, celebrating the end of 2025, a milestone year in his life in which he became a world champion. It features a vibrant white design built on titanium architecture.
Oscar Piastri: RM 67-02 Automatic Extra Flat
Piastri isn’t a regular watch wearer but for those special moments on the podium he wears the RM 67-02 Automatic Extra Flat. It’s the McLaren edition from a few years ago, which stands out for the orange accents on the crown as well as the architecture surrounding the skeletonised display. It has a lightweight carbon construction similar to that of the F1 cars Piastri is around all the time.
Ferrari: Richard Mille
The second of the teams with Richard Mille as watch partner is Ferrari. They’ll be hoping for a more stable year at the top of the tables after a shaky 2025. They’re sticking with Charles Leclerc along with Lewis Hamilton. If anyone has the pedigree to turn everything around, it’s the seven-time champion. An iconic Ferrari x Richard Mille collaboration is the RM UP-01, though that was followed by a second collaboration last year which is now found on Hamilton’s wrist.
Lewis Hamilton: RM 43-01 Manual Winding Tourbillon Split-seconds Chronograph Ferrari
The RM 43-01 Manual Winding Tourbillon Split-seconds Chronograph Ferrari was launched in March 2025. It combines two of horology’s most prestigious complications in the tourbillon and split-seconds, also known as a rattrapante, chronograph. Hamilton’s version is the carbon TPT edition with yellow hands – a colour associated with Ferrari as much as red, which is the accent colour on the titanium edition.
Charles Leclerc: RM 67-02 Automatic Extra Flat
Charles Leclerc has long worn a prototype version of the RM 67-02 Automatic Extra Flat in the colours of Ferrari, with red and white the primary accent colours. Although maybe he should add a few dots of blue to match the new car livery, with its HP logos taking up more space than ever on the car. It’s automatic with central hours and minutes, along with a skeletonised display showcasing the movement.
Alpine: H. Moser & Cie.
It always seems slightly incongruous to me that haute horology specialists H. Moser & Cie. are an official F1 team partner, but their partnership with Alpine F1 has lasted a few years now. In fact, they’re taking a more involved position than ever with collaboration watches dedicated to specific drivers such as the recent Pierre Gasly edition. They’ve even dabbled in smartwatches for pit staff, too.
Pierre Gasly: H. Moser & Cie. Streamliner Tourbillon Pierre Gasly Edition
Where some partnership watches have cursory sign-off from one side of the partnership, leaving all the work to the watch brand, the Streamliner Tourbillon Pierre Gasly Edition was a true partnership. Gasly fought hard to have his tastes and interests in watch design taken into account, and the result is a cool golden Streamliner with a fumé display.
Franco Colapinto: H. Moser & Cie. Streamliner Alpine Drivers Edition
The H. Moser & Cie. Streamliner Alpine Drivers Edition is a skeleton chronograph featuring a 42.3mm steel case with a blue physical vapour deposition (PVD) treatment echoing the colours of the Alpine team. It follows the classic shape of the Streamliner collection with curving flanks and a cushion design inspired by the Art Deco influences of vintage trains. Though here they’ve traded the railways for the circuit.
Audi
Audi is a new name on the starting grid for the 2026 season, having bought the former Kick Sauber team in its entirety at the start of 2025. So while the visuals of the car, the technical centre, and much of the team’s periphery are new, the drivers and chief technical staff are familiar. That means Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto in the hot seats. They don’t currently have an official luxury watch partner.
Nico Hülkenberg: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph
When you don’t have the restrictions of a watch sponsor to worry about, you get to wear the watches from your personal collection, and Hülkenberg’s collection is extensive. He’s been spotted in Daytonas and Royal Oaks aplenty. On the Royal Oak front, last season he was seen wearing the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding Chronograph, a track-ready interpretation of the 1980s icon.
Gabriel Bortoleto: Rolex Cosmograph Daytona
A classic of the racing world, the Cosmograph Daytona by Rolex is the archetypal chronograph with its tricompax display. It stands out from a lot of other modern chronographs for the style of its pushers, which have a screw-down locking system that prevents the chronograph functions from being activated or stopped by accident.
Williams
Williams formerly had British watch brand Bremont as their partner but have gone without a luxury watch sponsor for the past few seasons. However, speculating on a recent photoshoot, perhaps they are teasing an upcoming partnership. On the racing front, they’re hoping to build up steam after a lacklustre 2025, but with Sainz and Albon behind the wheel, those are solid drivers with which to build.
Carlos Sainz: Girard-Perregaux Laureato Three Gold Bridges
I will throw my hands up and say this is a bit of speculation based on quite a small image of the watch, but to my eye it looks as though Sainz is wearing the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Three Gold Bridges in a recent photoshoot. Certainly, the watch has an octagonal bezel and is not a Royal Oak due to the bracelet. Girard-Perregaux has recently ended its partnership with Aston Martin but have soft-announced that they aren’t finished with motorsport entirely, so perhaps a new partnership is on the horizon. Though I reiterate that this is speculation.
Alex Albon: Girard-Perregaux Laureato
Another tricky identification is the watch on Albon’s wrist in the same photoshoot as the above Sainz. It appears to have the same bracelet, leading me back to Girard-Perregaux. I suspect it is the angle of the lighting, but the bezel and dial look far more black than on the Sainz watch, so without more detail to go from, I’ve gone for the safer bet of the standard Laureato with a black dial.
Cadillac
Cadillac is a new team on the grid, being introduced as an 11th team rather than replacing an existing one. They’ve already caused a stir with their asymmetrical livery and veteran line-up consisting of Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas, both of whom tend to wear watches they picked up during previous racing partnerships. They’ll be hoping for a strong start to their debut season on the starting line.
Sergio Pérez: Tag Heuer Monaco Chronograph Skeleton
Pérez wearing the Tag Heuer Monaco Chronograph Skeleton shouldn’t come as any surprise after his four-year stint at Red Bull. Indeed, this watch was released in 2023, which was during the period of Pérez’s work at the team. It’s a standout watch from that year with its super-bright display and almost neon-blue accents.
Valtteri Bottas: IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Lake Tahoe
Valtteri Bottas was a driver for Mercedes from 2017–2021 before returning to the team in 2025 as a reserve driver. As such, it’s no surprise he’s been wearing IWC watches like the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Lake Tahoe, the stylish ceramic chronograph in bright white. Paired with a hyper-legible black dial, it’s as ideal for the racetrack as the cockpit of an aircraft.
Haas
Haas had an impressive run in the 2025 season with Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman holding their own against a stacked field. They’ll be hoping for more shots at the podium in 2026. On the wristwatch front, they have no official sponsor or luxury wristwatch partner.
Esteban Ocon: Bianchet B 1.618 Flying Tourbillon Sport GMT
At the start of the 2025 racing season Esteban Ocon became a personal ambassador for the Swiss haute horology brand Bianchet. Since then he has been seen in a range of their watches, including the Bianchet B 1.618 Flying Tourbillon Sport Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and Ultrafino. With their tonneau cases and high-end designs, they’re designed to stand toe-to-toe with the many Richard Milles in the paddock.
Oliver Bearman: Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711
Ollie Bearman is more likely to be seen with his trusty Whoop on his wrist rather than a luxury wristwatch but for fine occasions and dinners he has been spotted with some industry staples. The Rolex GMT-Master II and the Patek Philippe Nautilus. Without getting up close with the watch it’s difficult to tell if it’s the steel 5711 or white gold 5811, but given that the 5711 is the more prestigious, I would hazard a guess it’s that reference for an F1 driver.
An almost endless list of gaudy candy crush coloured (but expensive) monstrosities, but I guess over-the-top is normal in the world of F1 racing.
The only one that does look attractive is the H. Moser & Cie. Streamliner Tourbillon Pierre Gasly Edition, so stands out as a more “normal watch” and can be worn away from the track without jarring the visual “norms” of most people. Only downside, will no doubt be the cost (to us mere mortals).
The review states that Pierre Gasly had to fight hard for his thoughts on styling to be incorporated, but shows true taste and restraint unlike many of the others.
Lovely looking watch.