Scuderia Ferrari is without doubt the most popular team in the F1 circuit. So much so, that when the talks of a possible Ferrari pull-out regarding the 2021 changes came up, Toto Wolff, the team boss at Mercedes said F1 would have to listen to Ferrari as the sport couldn’t survive without the involvement of Ferrari.
But a different issue has now come up with the current Ferrari car that poses an immediate challenge to the working of the team.
This year during trusting, the speed of the Ferrari car wasn’t the only thing that caught the eye of all those watching. F1 teams rely heavily on sponsorships and this season Ferrari brought on board a new title sponsor in Mission Winnow that caught the eye on the car.
The Ferrari team even registered itself as Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow, much like the Racing Point Team (formerly Force India) registered itself as Racing Point Sports Pesa.
Mission Winnow is an initiative of the Phillip Morris International, which is a tobacco producer. While the company claims there’s no link between the two, the rules of F1 strictly prohibit any advertising for cigarette or tobacco companies on F1 cars.
With the first GP of the season taking place at Melbourne, Australia and public health bodies in Australia, confirmed they are looking into the legality of PMI’s branding on the Ferrari.
With the registration of team name requiring at least 1 weeks advanced notice, Ferrari has notified the FIA that it has removed the logo of the company from its car and registered name, however they can put it back on for the Bahrain GP if no issues are raised outside of Australia.
Ferrari cars have made F1 a household name and the most iconic of Ferrari cars in the past had tobacco branding in the form of “Marlboro”, often seen on the famous Ferrari of Michael Schumacher at his peak.
The laws have made that impossible now and Ferrari have therefore chosen not to fight the FIA on it and removed the logo for the Melbourne GP. Ferrari instead, has said its livery will feature ‘a surprise for the fans instead’.
