Inside IWC’s Formula 1 weekend with Mercedes-AMG
A first-hand look at how IWC experiences F1
FORMULA 1 IS A BEAST, and there are plenty of ways to see it. From the grandstands, from the paddock, or on screen. Then there’s the way IWC Schaffhausen and Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team do it – from the inside (and, towards the end of the day, from the outside too once the drivers have cleared the track).
Friday at the Australian Grand Prix started early at Albert Park. From the Mercedes-AMG lounge perched above Turn 10 – one of the circuit’s fastest and most dramatic corners – we had a pretty unbeatable view.
Cars ripped through the bend, the sound of Formula 1 engines echoing across the park — and occasionally a spray of gravel hitting the stand when someone pushed a little too hard. It didn’t take long before the room quieted slightly when Toto Wolff, CEO & Team Principal, stepped in to speak with the group – which, as you might imagine, has a way of focusing everyone’s attention pretty quickly.
For a watchmaker so closely embedded in the sport, it felt like exactly where it should be.
IWC’s long-standing partnership with the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team has become one of the most visible relationships between haute horology and motorsport. That connection was on full display throughout the day – from the machines on the track to the watches being presented inside the hospitality suite.
Parked nearby was the latest Mercedes-Maybach, quietly drawing attention amid the race-weekend chaos. In a paddock filled with machines designed purely for lap times, the Maybach felt a little refreshing – and frankly, more chic.
On the other side of the lounge, a watch specialist from the brand walked us through the workings of the IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 George Russell (Ref. IW388108). With its signature PETRONAS green accents and rubber strap, the watch marks the first official team timepiece IWC has created within its partnership with Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team.
Seeing the movement explained component by component offered a deeper appreciation of what’s happening beneath the dial. Chronographs are among the most mechanically complex everyday watches, and watching the levers, cams and wheels interact felt strangely similar to understanding a Formula 1 car itself… if you know what I mean.
Cycling the Albert Park circuit is not something most Formula 1 fans ever get to do, but that evening we were handed bikes and invited onto the track. Rolling onto the asphalt where the world’s fastest drivers had pushed their machines just hours earlier was surreal. The circuit suddenly felt enormous – the straights far longer than they appear on television and the corners more intimidating than they look on TV.
Even at cycling pace, the scale of Formula 1 becomes very real.
The evening wrapped with a private dinner hosted by IWC inside the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team hospitality space – served with a side of Team Drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell dining just behind us.
Moments like this reveal something interesting about IWC’s role in Formula 1. While the watches themselves are all about precision, the brand’s presence within the sport feels less about timing laps and more about a shared mindset.
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