A collaboration moving between speed, patience, and the quiet architecture of whisky making.
Charles Leclerc, one of Formula 1’s most followed figures on and off the circuit, has added a new line to his racing résumé this time, not on the track. In Miami on April 29, the Ferrari driver and Chivas Regal brand ambassador introduced the house’s first 16-year-old whisky in collaboration with Master Blender Sandy Hyslop.
The release marks both the brand’s first expression of its kind and Leclerc’s debut signature blend.
A creative exchange with Master Blender Sandy Hyslop took shape during race week in Miami through a series of tastings and refinements that guided the whisky’s development.
For Leclerc, the project followed a familiar way of working. He remained involved throughout, returning to tastings and adjustments as the blend gradually settled into its final form. What emerged is a composition of 16 whiskies, each aged at least 16 years, a number that threads through his career and mirrors his birth date, October 16.
In Scotland, that number took on a different weight. Moving through distilleries where time is measured in patience rather than hours, he encountered a process defined by restraint and repetition. He was drawn in particular to the depth of sherry cask–matured Longmorn single malt, which became a defining layer in the final blend.
Leclerc said “Sixteen has always been more than a number to me — it’s something I’ve carried through my whole career. Going to Scotland, stepping into the distilleries, and seeing the quiet intensity behind every cask changed the way I think about creation. There’s an obsession there, a patience that doesn’t rush time. That stayed with me.”
He added“Chivas Regal and I share the same belief that the standard you set today is only the starting point. I pushed Sandy to go further, he pushed me to think differently. Chivas Regal 16 felt like the natural next step in our partnership, something built not just as a blend but as a dialogue between two ways of seeing craft.”
Master Blender Sandy Hyslop described the collaboration as something unusually open in its construction. “Charles didn’t just put his name to this. He was in the room, making decisions, pushing back. He gravitated toward the character that defines Chivas Regal: rich, layered, built with real depth. What we’ve created together is a blend that’s unmistakably his and unmistakably ours,” said Sandy Hyslop, Master Blender, Chivas Regal.
When the two came together in Miami ahead of the Grand Prix to present the whisky for the first time, the moment felt less like a formal unveiling and more like a reflection on the process behind it, the decisions that shaped its direction, and the philosophy embedded in what now sits in the bottle.
The whisky opens on mandarin, raisins, and honey, before moving into cinnamon and toffee. On the palate, orange marmalade and baked apple give way to toasted oak and soft spice, finishing long and measured.
At its core, the collaboration settles into a quieter idea: a shared pursuit of refinement, and the belief that better is never fixed, only pursued.
Raise a glass to the pursuit of better. Watch the hero film here.
Chivas Regal 16-Year-Old is now available nationwide with an SRP of $69.99 via Chivas.com or ReserveBar.