Australia’s young Formula 1 hopeful met with Dom Toretto himself at the Miami Grand Prix, impressing the Hollywood star with his driving chops – as well as his incredibly expensive watch.
The 2023 Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix weekend was one of the most unusual F1 races in recent memory. It was only the second time the Miami Grand Prix had been held, and both F1’s organising body as well as the local marketing and media scrum made a huge effort to hype up the nascent race.
One of the byproducts of this was that we saw a huge number of American celebrities descend on the weekend to hobnob with the drivers and teams… Despite the fact that a lot of the celebrity guests clearly knew nothing about F1, leading to more than a few awkward moments.
But one celebrity moment that was a bit more natural than most was when Vin Diesel – the star of the legendary Fast and the Furious movie franchise – made an appearance in the McLaren garage, hanging out with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. If an actor’s going to hang with an F1 team, it makes sense for it to be the lead of the most famous car film franchise of all time…
Piastri had a great chat with Diesel, who was very complimentary of Piastri’s stellar junior career and even received a mini helmet from the young Aussie. They even embraced in a huge bear hug – where Piastri was able to subtly flex his $500,000 Richard Mille watch.
Richard Mille, of course, is one of McLaren’s major sponsors, and the ultra-exclusive watchmaker has produced more than a few collaborative models with the F1 team / supercar maker over the years. A nice perk of racing for McLaren is that Piastri gets to wear a ‘Millie’ too – indeed, he gets to pick just about any model he wants.
As the name implies, the RM 67-02 Automatic Winding Extra Flat is a very slim and sporty piece, perfect for athletes – indeed, it’s the lightest automatic watch the brand produces, weighing in at only 32 grams. (For comparison, a stainless steel Rolex Cosmograph Daytona weighs 148 grams.) That’s probably why performance-minded Piastri picked it.
WATCH what timepieces F1 drivers wear when they’re not on the job below.
The RM 67-02 also serves as the basis for a number of athlete signature models, with each variant featuring a slightly different colour scheme across the exposed movement, crown and strap. As you can see, Piastri’s wearing German tennis player Alexander Zverev’s signature model, which features colours reminiscent of the German flag.
Funnily enough, two other athletes who have their own signature RM 67-02 include F1 drivers Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso. Maybe Piastri will get his own signature model in the future, too…
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Vin Diesel’s watch collection, on the other hand, is even more impressive young Piastri’s. The 55-year-old star, who boasts a net worth north of $225 million (we guess making 10 Fast and Furious movies helps one’s bottom line) has quietly amassed a pretty tidy collection over the years.
The most expensive watch in his collection is his Patek Philippe Nautilus ref. 5711/1A ‘Tiffany and Co.’, which is worth a solid $3 million. Other watches in his collection include a Rolex Daytona, a Cartier Tank Française, a Breitling Navitimer, a Ulysse Nardin Marine Chronometer, a Panerai Luminor and even a Richard Mille RM 032 Automatic Winding Flyback Chronograph.
That said, Vin tends to wear reasonably humble watches. He’s normally spotted wearing a G-Shock of some description, and he also has a watch endorsement deal with – you’ll never have guessed – Italian fashion brand Diesel. Now that’s a perfect collaboration if I ever saw one.