How the music industry is rushing to embrace the world of F1

‘Fastonbury’ was the name given to the 2025 British Grand Prix by Sky Sports commentator David Croft at this month’s carnival of motorsport, music and celebrity. “It’s a proper festival now,” Croft – known as the voice of Formula One – went on, explaining how one of the biggest sporting events on the British summer calendar, and a sport as a whole, has embraced the world of music. The feeling from the music world is very much mutual.

Enter the cavernous site at Silverstone and it feels like somewhat of an encore to the previous weekend’s Glastonbury. As well as the showpiece event of Sunday’s Grand Prix, festivalgoers are able to watch household names such as Sam Fender, RAYE and Fatboy Slim on an enormous main stage. Before the Grand Prix, Becky Hill – another of the weekend’s headliners – performs the national anthem on the starting grid. While music always existed on the fringes of these events, now it feels like a main draw, and the signal of a music industry and sport of F1 moving closer together.

While traditionally seen as somewhat of an elitist and exclusive sport, the launch of Netflix series Drive to Survive in lockdown opened up Formula One to a huge new audience. One in three followers of the sport have become a fan in the last four years, with the demographic now featuring 42 per cent under 35s and the same percentage of female fans. With juicy rivalries between teams, drivers and bosses adding a soap opera element to a sport already high in on-track drama, the show – now on its seventh season – brought a rabid, young new fanbase to the sport.

As a result, the great and good of the worldwide music industry are keener than ever to align themselves with F1. As well as the names headlining the Silverstone festival, the likes of Stormzy have been seen on the famous pre-race grid walk. At events across the F1 calendar, Elton John, Foo Fighters and The Killers have been signed up to perform headline sets. At each of the 24 races on the F1 calendar, this new fanbase demand a more rounded and varied spread of entertainment around the showpiece event.

“There are probably better views of Formula One away from a Formula One circuit,” Rob Bloom, the Chief Marketing Officer at Aston Martin, tells Rolling Stone UK at the team’s factory on-site at Silverstone. “You don’t come [here] because that’s the best view of the action. You come because it’s music, it’s food, it’s culture, it’s community. It’s the ability to have a campsite and then come and mingle with other fans. It’s a festival.”

This new legion of F1 fans has also energised the 10 manufacturers in the sport and opened up a new world of brand collaborations. This year, the Aston Martin team have worked with the likes of The Rolling Stones, Dom Dolla and Tems on various collaborations, honouring their heritage as a classic British car brand alongside the hopes to engage a new and younger audience.

“As the sport continues to grow, new people are still discovering Formula One, which is amazing considering it’s a 75-year-old series,” Bloom says. “We’re a 100-year-old brand, and still lots of fans are discovering us for the first time.”

For Bloom, the task for legacy F1 teams is to “meet [the new fans] where they are. Particularly those newer, younger fans [that] may have discovered the sport through Drive to Survive… we can’t expect them [to come] from a Netflix series to all of a sudden understanding the ins and outs of the sport and only consuming F1 for motorsport stories. They’ve got other interests that may be music, fashion, the arts.”

As with many brands in 2025, Aston Martin are looking to TikTok to gauge the interests and wants of fans. Ahead of the British Grand Prix, new Gen Z fans of the sport started a TikTok trend where they would paint their nails in the style and colours of their favourite F1 team, as well as bringing the Matcha Culture trend into an F1 world. Aston Martin then hosted an event in London’s Covent Garden, where fans could come and enjoy a Matcha and learn more about the sport. Elsewhere on the F1 grid, McLaren have just released a new luxury pair of in-ear headphones with Bowers & Wilkins, while Ferrari collaborated with Spotify this year to bring music and F1 together in the US, the fastest-growing market for the sport.

Many more will also be learning about the sport for the first time through F1: The Movie, the new blockbuster starring Brad Pitt that landed in cinemas a week prior to the 2025 British Grand Prix. As well as its incomparable star and direction from Top Gun: Maverick’s Joseph Kosinski, the film also features a full star-studded soundtrack featuring original music by RAYE (‘Grandma Calls the Boy Bad’), BLACKPINK’s Rosé (‘Messy’), Ed Sheeran (‘Drive’) and more, alongside a score from Hans Zimmer.

Alongside the household names flocking to play gigs as part of F1 Grand Prixs, it’s another sign of the music industry’s biggest and best clamouring to be a part of the sport of the moment. On his 2023 song ‘MONACO’ – named after the most famous circuit on the F1 calendar – Bad Bunny namechecks drivers and says: “Créeme, los carro’ de F1 son má’ rápido’ en persona [Trust me, F1 cars are faster in person].” Watch Benson Boone’s music video for ‘To Love Someone’ and you’ll spot French driver Pierre Gasly in a cameo role.

Alongside providing festival headliners in a comparatively intimate setting, the sport also launched the F1 Tracks series in 2023, bringing new music discovery to fans. Emerging artists supported through the programme have then performed at multiple Silverstone Grand Prixs to over 40,000 fans.

It all points to a sport that has moved from exclusive and somewhat impenetrable to becoming the fastest-growing sport in the world. In attracting a new, younger army of fans, it has also become inextricably intertwined with a music industry only too happy to be associated. As Bloom says: “Fans are no longer on the sidelines. They are now shaping the sport.”