BWT Alpine Formula One Team turned Jeremy Clarkson’s Oxfordshire pub, The Farmer’s Dog in Burford, into a Formula One viewing party for the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday 6 September. The timing could hardly have been better: Pierre Gasly had qualified on pole at Monza the day before, his first in Formula One and the first ever for Alpine. Hundreds of visitors tried pit-stop challenges on a race-spec show car and lapped Monza on simulators before the race was screened in the pub garden.
Alpine’s Formula One squad spent race day at the Italian Grand Prix rather closer to home than usual. On Sunday 6 September, the Enstone-based team set up at The Farmer’s Dog, Jeremy Clarkson’s pub in Burford, Oxfordshire, for a public viewing of the race at Monza.
The venue sits just over 12 miles (roughly 20 km) from Alpine’s factory, and the team made the short trip with a Formula One show car, a bank of Trak Racer simulators and a merchandise stand selling team products. Visitors could take on pit-stop challenges on the previously raced machine or try a lap of Monza on the simulators before the 53-lap grand prix was shown in the pub garden.
A first pole for Gasly and for Alpine
The event landed on an unusually good weekend for the team. Pierre Gasly qualified on pole position on the Saturday — the first of his Formula One career, and the first pole in Alpine’s history as a constructor. The Frenchman lined up ahead of the field for the start, with team-mate Franco Colapinto in the other car.
Clarkson passed on the crowd’s support for Gasly and what he called “the Chipping Norton Formula One Team” during a live link with Sky Sports F1 while the driver prepared for his first start from P1. He then judged a pit-stop head-to-head between teams drawn from his pub and his farm, before watching the race alongside Alpine staff and supporters.
The latest step in a growing partnership
The pub takeover follows a series of tie-ups between the team and Clarkson’s Oxfordshire businesses. At this year’s British Grand Prix, the Diddly Squat Farm Shop supplied locally sourced food to the team on race day, and Clarkson’s Hawkstone brand featured in Alpine’s podium celebrations in Monaco in 2023 and São Paulo in 2024.
“It was amazing to see the support shown for the team at The Farmer’s Dog on Sunday ahead of the Italian Grand Prix. For those of us in Monza, focusing on Pierre’s Pole Position start, it was a fantastic boost to see the backing from Jeremy and fans of the team before we went to the grid. Our relationship with the pub, Diddly Squat and Jeremy goes from strength to strength, and collaborating on this experience allows us to celebrate our Oxfordshire home and give something back to our biggest supporters. I can’t thank them enough for their warm hospitality and we look forward to doing more events like this in the future.” — Steve Nielsen, BWT Alpine Formula One Team
What it means
Fan activations away from the circuit have become a standard part of Formula One’s marketing playbook, but this one leans on geography rather than glamour: Enstone, Burford and Chipping Norton are all within a few miles of each other in the Cotswolds, and the team says the event was a way of marking its Oxfordshire base. Alpine has been based at Enstone since 1992, through its earlier identities as Benetton, Renault F1 Team and Lotus F1 Team, and the site has seven world championships to its name.
The team runs the A526 this season with Gasly and Colapinto, under Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore and Managing Director Steve Nielsen. Alpine says it intends to hold more events of this kind in future, though no further dates have been announced.
Source: media.alpinecars.com