My first five minutes in the Paddock Club at the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix felt like a pastiche of Vegas camp revved up to 11. George Russell rushing to the Mercedes garage; Taylor Fritz mid-interview; Steve Aoki entertaining friends; The Blue Man Group photobombing guests; an Elvis impersonator recruiting sequined passersby for a shotgun wedding in a neon pink “F1 Chapel.”
It was an appropriately surreal introduction to the ultra-exclusive Paddock Club, arguably the most luxurious hospitality experience in sports since the arrival of LVMH as an F1 Global Partner.
It was also my first glimpse of what I’d later call the “Paddock Walk,” a practiced glide I saw from A-listers as disparate as Cynthia Erivo and Mark Wahlberg: head angled slightly down, a polite half smile, no eye contact, and legs moving at a brisk clip just fast enough that, by the time someone clocks you, it’s already too late for them to grab their phone.
Here, everyone is a VIP. So, the real trick is how F1 and LVMH, the sport’s newest high-profile luxury partner, make the experience feel that much more special.
The F1 Paddock Club is built directly above the team garages, with a clear view over the pit lane and the starting grid. At most Grand Prix, including Las Vegas, the space spans two floors of hospitality suites, plus a rooftop deck. For anyone not hosted by a team or sponsor, base Paddock Club packages typically start around $10,000, which grants access to viewing lounges, on-track experiences, live music, an ever-flowing Moët & Chandon champagne pyramid, and culinary stalls, ranging from Chilean seabass with caviar and goose liver brioche sliders to chocolate fountains and traditional Viennese kaiserschmarrn (think scrambled pancakes but extra fancy).
Like a prix-fixe menu with the option to tack on truffles, the Paddock Club offers what feels like an endless list of add-on experiences: meet-and-greets with your favorite driver, riding the circuit just before the race starts, taking a “hot lap” in the passenger seat with a pro, and watching the trophy ceremony from the track itself, close enough to the Moët & Chandon spray zone.
Despite the all-you-can eat lobsters and oysters, omakase sushi bar, and wagyu hot dogs with truffle shavings, one of the only places you’ll see an actual price tag is the merch booth, where the selection transcends the ordinary. There’s F1 Academy x Hello Kitty swag alongside an exclusive Paddock Club collection only available on-site, where baseball caps go for $60, hoodies $125, and a race jacket featuring logos from all the F1 races? $400. For regulars, collecting the Paddock Club’s city-specific merch becomes its own kind of flex. Guests stroll through the suites wearing pieces from past races, repping Silverstone hoodies and Singapore tees like badges of honor.
While the core of the Paddock Club stays consistent throughout the season – plush suites, free-flowing cuisine, racing simulations, guided tours – each city adds its own personality. Just like the city-specific merch, there were city-specific performers weaving among celebrities and business leaders. I spotted Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Mickey and Minnie, Naomi Campbell, the Blue Man Group (with one member inexplicably waving what looked like a half-eaten turkey leg), Travis Scott, an electric violinist, Sarah Paulson, and mirrored stilt walkers dressed like human disco balls.
If F1 Las Vegas had a dress code, it was, suitably, chaos. Of the good kind. On one end of the spectrum, you have people dressed like they’re heading out for New Year’s Eve on the Strip and, on the other, fans in full team gear. Ferrari Red dominated, which makes sense: Lewis Hamilton is the only driver who requires security in the Paddock.
The majority of people inside the Paddock Club are guests of a F1 partner or team, with Paddock access acting as a golden ticket for executives, celebrity ambassadors, and top clients. Individual brand and team suites remain invitation-only, each with its own guest list and curated experiences. It’s a dizzying Tetris board of credentials and access. By the time the checkered flag waved, I was wearing three lanyards and six wristbands.
The F1 sponsorship ecosystem is layered. With each team running its own slate of partners, the brand fractals seem to multiply every season.
A brand like TAG Heuer can activate at the global level as the Official Timekeeper of F1; at the team level as the Official Partner and Timekeeper of Oracle Red Bull Racing; and at the race level as the title partner of the F1 TAG Heuer Grand Prix de Monaco 2025. Each tier comes with its own access and perks, allowing TAG Heuer to build a custom constellation of experiences, not to mention limited-edition watch drops.
F1 weekends generate a level of sponsor activation and hospitality fervor that rivals the Super Bowl. This season, few partners have generated more buzz than F1’s freshly announced global luxury partner, LVMH. It doesn’t get much bigger than Beyoncé, who made a surprise arrival at the Paddock wearing a custom zip-up Louis Vuitton tracksuit, styled with red leather gloves and a Louis Vuitton Keepall to match.
LVMH typically cedes the spotlight to its individual maisons, which is why it’s striking when the group steps forward with a partnership under the LVMH banner. This has happened only twice in nearly four decades: first for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and now for Formula 1. It’s not a coincidence that both of LVMH’s group bets center on global, water-cooler sports.
For the inaugural year of its decade-long partnership with F1, LVMH focused on activating Louis Vuitton, TAG Heuer, and Moët Hennessy’s portfolio, with Moët & Chandon in the pole position. Each of these three priority maisons served as a title sponsor for a Grand Prix this season (Melbourne, Monaco, and Belgium, respectively) while shaping experiential luxury inside the Paddock and across each city.
“Authenticity is the new currency in luxury," George Ciz, Chief Marketing Officer of TAG Heuer, tells me as he recounts TAG Heuer’s F1 history. In 1971, Heuer became the first watch brand to sponsor a F1 team. “When you can be authentic with something incredibly hot and popular, where everyone wants to be, that’s a nirvana moment.”
Inside the already exclusive Paddock Club, the Louis Vuitton lounge carved out its own culture of intimacy and global hospitality. While many suites lean into Vegas showmanship – loud branding, bright lights, neon signage – Louis Vuitton felt like an impeccable showroom: warm and sophisticated, with wood paneled floors and low lighting glinting off Louis Vuitton coffee table books, prints, and floral arrangements.
A bar adjacent to the viewing balcony served what many considered the most generous caviar bump in the entire Paddock Club, while a series of trunk displays conjured the maison’s Victory Travels in Louis Vuitton tradition of crafting custom cases for the world’s biggest sporting awards, from the Paris 2024 Games to the FIFA World Cup. It was a fitting setup: the Trophy Trunk is a crown jewel of LVMH’s F1 partnership, making appearances on the starting grid, during the national anthem, and again during Max Verstappen’s podium ceremony, where he was drenched in Moët.
Chris Gabaldon, President & CEO for Moët Hennessy North America, likened the vibe of the suite to a dinner party. “It’s not about how many people we can get in or constant churn,” Gabaldon says. “You might not know everyone, but everyone is happy to meet you; and at any table, you’ll be invited to sit down for a drink and live the full experience.”
You might be surprised by how many people you do know. Guests in Vegas included Louis Vuitton ambassador and four-time Olympic gold medalist Léon Marchand and Anok Yai, the British Fashion Council's 2025 Model of the Year. They were in good company, surrounded by a global crowd clad in scarves, bags, jackets, and sweaters patterned with Louis Vuitton’s monogram. As one man remarked while walking past the entrance: “Makes sense this is the best dressed crowd at Formula One.”
The private outdoor balcony offered one of the closest vantage points in the entire Paddock Club. Positioned centrally on the second floor above the starting grid, it’s close enough that you can smell the rubber and exhaust, an intimate perspective that feels almost impossible at a race of this scale.
And if, by some miracle, you’re not completely full upon leaving the Paddock, the final food boss is there to greet you on your way out: an In-N-Out pop up to fuel your journey through gridlocked Vegas traffic; that is, unless you opted for a "Victory Lap" helicopter tour as part of your race package.
Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit the HS Style Guide for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.
