The Ferrari Formula One team and tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PMI) go way back. The Maranello racing outfit were famously sponsored by PMI’s Marlboro brand from 1997 until restrictions were introduced on tobacco sponsorship in the late 2000s. Cigarette advertisements have been banned from F1 for over a decade now and since 2006, no car can sport advertisements for cigarettes, tobacco, or tobacco products.
However, the long standing partnership was somewhat rekindled in 2018 with PMI launching the Mission Winnow initiative. That year, the name was on the Ferrari cars, while they once again became title sponsor in the following year. Since then, depending on advertising laws in the country where the race is taking place, the branding has been on and off the Ferrari F1 car. The Mission Winnow logos were not used at all through the shortened 2020 season but were put back with a vibrant green design on the engine cover of Ferrari’s SF21 car. However, it was recently announced that neither the name nor logo will appear on the cars in any of the upcoming races in the EU and the UK.
According to the CarAndBike report, Ferrari will not be running the new Mission Winnow branding in the EU leg of the season. Despite this, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto revealed that his team is negotiating a new deal with the tobacco major for 2022 and beyond. He also denied that this was a sign that the relationship with PMI was coming to an end. Scuderia Ferrari’s existing sponsorship agreement with PMI expires at the end of this year, but Binotto said that talks were already underway over a new contract.
“If you look as well at last year’s or previous years, there were races where we did not have a logo on the car,” Binotto said. “That was down to the regulations of various countries, and we are simply trying to respect it as we did in the past and still do today,” he added.
The news has led to a lot of speculation and has set the motor world abuzz with possible financial outcomes. Meanwhile, the legendary Italian racing team slipped to the fourth spot on the constructor standings this year. They have been plagued with issues relating to tyre degradation among others. Team Boss Binotto has admitted that the team’s problems in that area could carry on until the end of the season.
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here