F1 drivers' wristwatches

Great idea for a thread! Some are obvious, but there are many I wonder about also.

e

 

Felipe Massa wears a Richard Mille and Rubens Barrichello wears an Audemars Piguet ROO. I think Kimi wears a Tag. That's a start.

 

Anybody else find it interesting how many of the drivers actually wear their watch while driving? I notice this especially in Qualifying. I don't see how you could look at it, your glove is pretty much required to be rolled over your cuff.


Jay

 

Felipe Massa - Richard Mille RM011

Rubens Barrichello - Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore

Lewis Hamilton - Tag Heuer Aquaracer

Michael Schumacher - Omega Speedmaster

Nico Rosberg - Oris LE (Limited Edition)

Kimi Raikkonen - Tag Heuer Carrera

Jenson Button - Seiko Sportura

Mark Webber - Oris LE

Sebastien Bourdais, Sebastian Vettel, and IIRC Heikki Kovalainen are all Tag Heuer guys too.



Bear in mind that pretty much any F1 driver is paid and sponsored by the watch he wears - these guys don't generally pick their favorite watch, they get sponsorship deals. Tag, Omega, Oris and (lately) AP are big on this. Pretty much every driver is sponsored by some watch company or other.

 

Hmm interesting. I thought Jenson had split with Seiko. For some of the best watches, keep an eye on Briatore. I've seen Fab wear to AP Ro's, one on each wrist.

 

I think the Seiko deal was through Honda + Jenson, so it probably is over.

IIRC the last time I saw him with a watch it was a cheap digital watch, maybe Casio or something. He may be un-sponsored at the moment, but IIRC the last official watch he had was the Seiko, could be wrong though.

 

For sure it was Seiko, I just wasn't certain if that had continued after Honda bailed out. Anyways - great info, thanks. Great idea for a thread too.

 

Christian Klien wears a Tag Heuer Grand Carrera. At least he was at Sebring.

 

If I'm not mistaken, the owner of TAG is a co-owner of the Mclaren F1 Team. Tag does make a great watch, I own 2 and they are flawless.

 

There was an article in CAR magazine (U.K.) about 3-4 years ago with a primary focus on this topic. IIRC, much of the article was spent with Eddie Irvine (at the time with Ford/Jaguar) and pretty much communicated that a lot of these guys have big name watches which are worn privately, and that aren't the ones we see at any time during a race weekend (sponsors).

 

I don't think ANY of them wear watches while they are driving. Sometimes you will see that when they get out of the car and head up to the podium the VERY FIRST THING is they get on the scale. The very NEXT thing is their handler give them their watch to put on... So when you see them wearing a watch in the interview they have just put that on. Also they give them a "jacket" that is an exact replica of the top half of the drivers suit (actually it is NOT exact as some of the patches are better positioned for viewing during the interview, but they are VERY close) and they put that on instead of the dirty (now champagne covered) racing suit.

James

 

Nope some wear while in the car. There have been shots of Massa seen in race where the watch pokes out through the gloves. Its crazy but true.

-dsd

 

WOW! Ferrari will spend millions on saving 5 oz of weight but they will let him wear that HUGE HEAVY RM! Go figure! That said, I have also seen them HAND Massa his watch before a podium ceremony too, so maybe he is hit and miss on that... Poor location for the weight too...high up, you need to lower than center of G!

 

Well Graham is now a Brawn sponsor. Love the swordfish !

http://www.graham-london.com/index.en.html

 

I have an RM. They are light, mine is made of titanium, carbon fiber etc. probably the lightest watch I have.

 

Nick Heidfeld was wearing a monster watch during the post race interview (Malaysia). Anyone know what it was?

 

Nick wears a TWSteel

 

It was rumored that JPM would want to wear his Rolex(?) in the race car. Team principles needed to remind him of the time and expense commited to shaving mere grams of weight from the car.

 

+1. Great thread. I always wanted to know what the drivers wear. And it does seem a bit awkward that they have them on while driving.