There's a grand old tradition in motorsports of the winning drivers drinking champagne on the podium, and spraying each other down with it in the process. But Formula One being what Formula One is these days, they're not just using any old bottle of bubbly. At least not anymore.
The series has signed a new deal with Champagne Carbon, a French vintner which has been supplying the sparkling wine for the podiums at the past few grands prix, and which has now made the relationship official.
Though it's a relatively new label, Carbon has roots in the production of champagne stretching back hundreds of years. The bubbly it's supplying is Vintage 2009 Blanc de Blanc Grand Cru Millesime, made from 100% chardonnay grapes. But the novelty here is not what's in the bottles, but the bottles themselves.
While French law prohibits changing the shape of champagne bottles, Carbon coats their in a layer of real carbon fiber that's said to take the craftsmen a full week to produce in a 21-step process. The result looks fitting for F1, and each bottle on the podium has its own unique label: gold for the winner, silver for the runner-up, and bronze for third place. And as you'd expect, they're suitably expensive: a standard-size 750ml bottle of Carbon champagne goes for about $500, but a 1.5-liter magnum like the ones they're using on the podium cost nearly $3,000. Go even bigger with a 6-liter Methuselah and you'll be looking at over $8k, with a 15-liter Nebuchadnezzar nearing $50k.
“Tradition, mystique, celebration and taste are common characteristics of both Formula 1 and Champagne Carbon,” said F1 commercial director Sean Bratches. “The unique feature of a bottle made with carbon, the material so representative of the amazing technology in our sport, is a further element that makes Champagne Carbon the perfect product for the drivers to celebrate with on a Formula 1 Grand Prix podium.”
Prior to Carbon's arrival on the podium, the bubbly was provided by Chandon, which also sponsors the McLaren team, but is considered to produce “sparkling wine,” not actual champagne since the winery is located in California, not France. They'll probably continue using sparkling non-alcoholic rosewater in stricter Muslim countries. But with Bahrain and Istanbul long since dropped from the calendar, and Malaysia and Azerbaijan decidedly more liberal on the subject, that comes down only to Abu Dhabi.
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