Yachts, Billionaires and Gambling - The Formula 1 Lifestyle Unpacked

The playboy lifestyle: a racing tradition steeped in history James Hunt. Just the mere mention of the name takes us back to another time. The man. The legend. Not only did he win the World Championship in 1976, he also had 10 wins under his belt with Hesketh, McLaren, and Wolf, after racing with Mini, Formula Ford, and Formula 3. However, it wasn’t his wins on the track that really captured his audience. It was his striking good looks, cheeky smile, cavalier attitude and playboy ways.

Many will have heard the stories of Hunt. That he had the words “Sex, breakfast of champions” sewn into his uniform. That he had partying marathons, full of booze and drugs. Chain smoking and stumbling off airplanes after races. That he slept with over 5000 women. A wife that he “transferred” to Richard Burton. The public was captivated by this man, the 70s a time for free love and a fast life, lived without regret.

Hunt’s fast living in the end, perhaps caught up with him. The legendary man died at the young age of 45 in 1993 of a heart attack, mere hours after proposing to the woman who would’ve been his third wife, Helen Dyson.

Of course, while Hunt is surely the F1 playboy archetype, we have others, too, that go down in the annals of history for similar reasons. Mike Hailwood, who was not only an F1 racer, but a world motorcycle champion prior, who was a great fan of drinking, partying, and indulging in the pleasures of many women. Flavio Briatore and his A+ dating history. Innes Ireland and his insatiable appetite for the drink. Eddie Irvine and his string of houses around the world.

While the F1 lifestyle has changed a bit over the years, as the public’s attitudes towards excessive living have changed, it’s still clear to those with a keen eye that it continues, just out of the general public’s view.

If dating models is a measure of the F1 lifestyle, then there are plenty of racers that can head straight to the front of the queue. Flavio Briatore is the man who most would hold up as the F1 model serial dater. Not only did he date Naomi Campbell and share a child with Heidi Klum, he was linked to Eva Herzigova and Tamara Mellon, and is currently married to former Wonderbra model Elisabetta Gregoraci, a woman no less than 30 years his junior. Quite the list, although he is now settled down at 67.

Fernando Alonso is currently dating lingerie model, Linda Morselli, who coincidentally previously was dating Valentino Rossi, the famous nine time world champion MotoGP driver. Jenson Button has Californian Playboy model, Brittny Ward, on his arm currently, while formerly married to model Jessica Michibata. Kimi Raikkonen also has a stunning model wife - Minttu Virtanen.

Drinking and drugging isn’t one of those things that we expect of sporting greats these days. While Hunt’s heavy drinking back in the 70s was him perhaps just blowing off steam, the sports stars of today are tut-tutted should such activities come to light. Lewis Hamilton, F1’s current bad boy, has certainly been under the microscope for such activities over the years. Speculation that his 4am civilian crash in Monaco was the result of heavy partying certainly had bosses concerned, especially after the man himself admitted to being a heavy drinker.

While drugs are generally kept out of the spotlight, due to their illegal status, F1 drivers are tested, albeit infrequently, and in 2002 the F1 racer Tomas Enge lost his F3000 title after testing positive for marijuana.

Bernie Ecclestone is the ubiquitous billionaire of F1 and still has strong ties to the sport and its drivers. However, there are still other billionaires that have a presence in F1, and with certain drivers in particular.

How about 18-year-old Lance Stroll, making his debut in F1 this year? The son of billionaire Lawrence Stroll, the fashion magnate whose Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors labels have clout the world over, Lance will be racing for Williams.

Or the case of Sergey Sirotkin, previously racing for Renault, and now looking to Williams for 2018, who also races with SMP, with their billionaire brother founders?

Plus, there is a never ending string of events like the Billionaire Club's Monaco Grand Prix after party, or other parties set in rich, exotic locations where drivers party alongside billionaires with the champagne flowing…

Yachts are the toy du jour of the world’s elite. And when it comes to sports and yachts, there is no other quite like the on board parties and yachts of the Monaco Grand Prix (followed closely by its counterparts in Abu Dhabi and Singapore!).

David Coulthard, the 13 time Formula 1 winner has his own 45ft yacht – a sweet ride. Jenson Button has his own 72ft yacht permanently in Monaco, and racing great Eddie Irvine has his very own superyacht too. Hamilton, too, has a yacht – a 90ft one.

But it’s not just a show of wealth that you can buy your own yacht that resonates with F1 drivers. It’s also a great place to play, and who wouldn’t want a racing legend aboard their boat? Last year Lewis Hamilton was pictured aboard a mega yacht a mere hours after the Monaco Grand Prix alongside model of the moment, Bella Hadid. Not a bad life if you can get it.

It’s not just a game of poker that drivers are playing on the track, there’s also dalliances with gambling off the course, too. Robert Kubica, the famous formula 1 driver is known to love playing actual poker, although he swears he’s not very good at it.

There’s plenty of stars that play in charity poker tournaments, too, like Nico Rosberg, who helped out with Ante Up for Africa, or Niki Lauda who was at an event in Berlin in 2014.

There are also sponsored players like Jaime Alguersuari and Giancarlo Fisichella who have been spokespersons for online gambling site PartyPoker. There are plenty of sites online to gamble through, like NoDepositRewards, so why wouldn’t these guys accept a spokesperson role while at the same time get to indulge in a little online gambling themselves?

That high-life/fast life lifestyle isn’t lived by all racers, of course. There are plenty of family men who also ride for the best. Felipe Massa, the Brazilian Ferrari driver who retired in 2016, was known as one of the sport’s “good guys”, someone who kept his nose out of trouble – even though he got his start in the sport at the fresh age of 20.

While F1 isn’t quite as notoriously out-in-the-open wild as it used to be, it is still no doubt filled with excess and opulence – the stuff only dreams are made of.