Formula 1 sells itself on pace, pressure and performance, but the travelling circus still runs on something far less glamorous: routine. Airports at dawn, simulator days that blur into sponsor calls, and triple-headers that don’t care whether you’ve slept. It’s why the people around the drivers — the partners who appear quietly in the background of a garage shot, or who stay well away from it — end up mattering more than the paddock gossip suggests.
With the 2026 grid settled and the new-season churn already in full swing, here’s where things stand off-track for the drivers, based on what’s widely reported and what they’ve chosen to make public.
At McLaren, Lando Norris’ private life has been anything but for the last year. He’d been linked to Portuguese actor and model Margarida Corceiro since 2023, and the relationship effectively went “public” once TV cameras found her in the garage during the 2025 season. It’s now believed they split early in 2026 — a reminder that in F1, even the personal stuff can end up being treated like part of the show.
Oscar Piastri, by contrast, has long kept things steady and low-key. He’s in a long-term relationship with Lily Zneimer, whom he met at school. She’s been seen at races over the years and joined him for occasions away from the track too, including the Autosport Awards after his Formula 2 title.
Mercedes has had its own quiet reshuffle in the background. Andrea Kimi Antonelli arrived on the 2025 grid in a relationship with Eli Babickova, though it’s widely believed the pair also went their separate ways early this year. George Russell remains with Carmen Montero Mundt, a financial broker. They were first spotted together in the paddock back at Mugello in 2020, kept things relatively private at the start, then gradually became more visible — with Montero Mundt even appearing in the latest season of *Drive to Survive*.
Ferrari’s driver line-up guarantees attention regardless, but 2026 has leaned even harder into the celebrity crossover. Lewis Hamilton, while nothing has been officially confirmed, has been rumoured to be dating Kim Kardashian since early in the year. They’ve appeared publicly at sporting events and interacted on social media — and in a moment that felt both throwaway and revealing of how paddock banter works, Esteban Ocon joked “Keeping Up with the Hamiltons” in a video released via Formula 1’s official channels.
Charles Leclerc’s relationship has moved from paddock spotting to life milestone at speed. He began dating Alexandra Saint Mleux — a TikToker and art history student — in the summer of 2023, and she’s been a familiar presence around Ferrari, including the broadcast cutting to her reaction after his Monaco win in 2024. The engagement became public in November 2025, with the couple’s dog Leo involved in the proposal via an engraved collar tag. Early in 2026, they confirmed they’d married in a small private ceremony. Even by Monaco standards, the detail that caught eyes was the wedding transport: the newlyweds were spotted driving around the principality in a rare Ferrari 250 Testarossa.
Red Bull remains, as ever, a world of its own. Max Verstappen is with Kelly Piquet, daughter of three-time world champion Nelson Piquet. Their relationship dates back to late 2020 in terms of public rumours, and in late 2024 they confirmed they were expecting their first child in 2025 — a baby they’ve since welcomed. Verstappen has always been blunt about separating the noise from the job, but parenthood is one of the few off-track changes that inevitably rewires a driver’s week, even if the lap time doesn’t show it.
His new team-mate Isack Hadjar, promoted to the senior Red Bull seat for 2026 after racing at Racing Bulls in 2025, is currently believed to be single.
At Williams, Alex Albon and pro golfer Muni He — better known to many as Lily — have become one of the more visible couples in the sport, helped by their social media presence and the occasional crossover like Albon’s golfball-themed helmet at Miami in 2023. In early 2026, they announced their engagement. Carlos Sainz, now in blue, continues to be linked with Scottish model and entrepreneur Rebecca Donaldson; they were first connected in mid-2023 and she’s since been seen at several races.
Aston Martin has provided one of the year’s bigger personal stories. Fernando Alonso, divorced from singer Raquel del Rosario since 2011, welcomed his first child in early 2026 with Melissa Jimenez, a DAZN reporter in Spain. Alonso revealed the news in his own subtle way — an Instagram story that confirmed the relationship, the child’s name, and even that the little one already has a Formula 1 paddock pass. Lance Stroll is believed to be single after previously dating Italian model Sara Pagliaroli; neither has posted any formal announcement, but both have wiped traces of each other from social media.
Alpine’s picture is comparatively quiet. Franco Colapinto has no confirmed partner, and while he’s been linked to various people in unsubstantiated reports, he’s largely kept his private life away from public consumption. Pierre Gasly has been linked to Francisca “Kika” Cerqueira Gomes since 2022; they’ve kept the relationship mostly private, though their dog Simba has become a familiar minor character around the paddock.
Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad arrives as the only rookie on the 2026 grid, and his relationship status is simply unknown publicly — not unusual for an 18-year-old stepping into one of the sport’s least forgiving spotlights. Liam Lawson, meanwhile, has shared pictures with long-term girlfriend Hannah St. John, a biomedical sciences graduate with a sizeable TikTok following.
At Audi, Gabriel Bortoleto — the 2024 Formula 2 champion — has been in a relationship with Isabella Bernardini, a computer science student, since his junior-category rise. They keep things private, sharing the occasional photo. Nico Hulkenberg is married to Egle Ruskyte; the pair began dating in 2015, he proposed in Venice in 2020, and they welcomed their daughter Noemi Sky in 2021.
Haas has its own mix of discretion and exposure. Oliver Bearman is with Alicia Torriani, and while they’ve largely stayed private, cameras caught an emotional embrace after his career-best fourth place in Mexico in 2025 — one of those moments that cuts through the paddock’s usual armour. Ocon is dating Flavy Barla, a medical student and model who won Miss Côte d’Azur in 2022; they were first spotted together late in 2023 and have since posted frequently.
And at Cadillac, Valtteri Bottas remains with Australian pro cyclist Tiffany Cromwell. Their relationship began in 2020, and it’s become something of a running subplot that Australia has turned into Bottas’ second home — capped by the couple buying a vineyard in South Australia late in 2025 and producing red wine. Sergio Perez is married to Carla Martinez, and while they keep things largely out of view, they have four children together.
In a sport where everything is measured, timed and evaluated, the personal side is the one area drivers can still try to control — even if the paddock, the cameras and the internet rarely let them forget who’s standing just out of shot.
