Ka-Ciao: Disney and Pixar’s Cars Races Into Formula 1 With a New Monza Collection

Disney and Pixar’s Cars is moving from the animated racetrack into the real-world style of Formula 1, with a new collection that places Lightning McQueen, Francesco Bernoulli and the unmistakable iconography of the films across contemporary motorsport apparel.

According to launch material supplied to Simply Luxury, the Disney and Pixar Cars Collection with Formula 1 is scheduled to arrive online at DisneyStore.com on 14 August at 9am PT, before appearing at the Formula 1 Gran Premio d’Italia 2026 at Monza in September.

From Radiator Springs to the paddock

The crossover feels unusually natural. Cars has always borrowed from the culture, characters and theatre of motor racing, while Formula 1 has increasingly moved beyond the circuit into fashion, entertainment and global popular culture.

Formula 1 itself has highlighted the franchise’s racing connections, noting that Cars 2 leans heavily into Formula-style competition through Lightning McQueen’s Italian rival Francesco Bernoulli. For this collection, that relationship becomes literal: animated racing heritage is translated into clothing designed around the codes of modern fanwear.

The pieces shown in the campaign lean deliberately retro rather than technical. Varsity jackets, oversized sweatshirts, hoodies, graphic T-shirts and trucker caps are covered with embroidered-style racing patches, chequered motifs, fictional sponsor graphics and the number 95 associated with Lightning McQueen.

Lightning McQueen meets Formula 1 style

The strongest designs treat Cars not as children’s merchandise but as motorsport graphics with a nostalgic edge. A black crew sweatshirt places Lightning McQueen beneath Formula 1 lettering and a prominent 95, while patches on the sleeves create the appearance of a vintage team garment collected over multiple race weekends.

A deep blue hoodie takes a different approach, using oversized line artwork of Lightning McQueen across the back beneath Formula 1 branding. Elsewhere, a black T-shirt combines a vertical racing stripe, Formula 1 insignia and a large McQueen graphic near the hem.

Caps continue the paddock aesthetic, mixing mesh trucker construction with Cars, Formula 1 and fictional racing patches. The result sits somewhere between race-weekend merchandise and the deliberately over-branded teamwear that has become increasingly influential in street fashion.

An Italian homecoming for Francesco Bernoulli

Monza gives the collaboration an especially appropriate setting. Francesco Bernoulli, introduced in Cars 2 as Lightning McQueen’s flamboyant Italian rival, is one of the franchise characters most directly associated with Formula-style racing.

One of the collection’s white T-shirts places a red single-seater interpretation of the character beneath Formula 1 and Gran Premio d’Italia graphics, accompanied by Bernoulli’s signature. Another brown jacket carries racing badges across the back with a large Francesco graphic at the base.

That Italian emphasis arrives as Formula 1 prepares to return to the Autodromo Nazionale Monza from 4 to 6 September 2026. Formula 1 describes the circuit as one of the championship’s historic fixtures, while Monza itself will stage the 97th Italian Grand Prix in 2026.

Disney and Formula 1 are building a wider culture around racing

The Cars release also sits inside a much larger relationship between Disney and Formula 1. Their multi-year “Fuel the Magic” collaboration has already expanded through race-weekend entertainment, character appearances and product drops during the 2026 season.

Disney has described the programme as a season-long journey across selected Grands Prix, combining storytelling, live experiences and racing-inspired merchandise. Earlier 2026 releases have included Disney x Formula 1 apparel, accessories and collectibles, with activations extending beyond circuits into major retail destinations.

The Cars collection pushes that strategy into particularly fertile territory. Instead of placing a general Disney character into motorsport, it connects Formula 1 with a franchise whose mythology is already built around speed, competition, sponsorship graphics and the emotional drama of racing.

For Formula 1, it is another route into fashion and entertainment culture. For Disney and Pixar, it gives Lightning McQueen and Francesco Bernoulli a convincing place in the visual world of a real Grand Prix.

And for Monza, where racing history and Italian style have always existed side by side, “Ka-Ciao” may be the most fitting starting signal possible.