Philip Morris International, one of the largest cigarette and tobacco manufacturers in the world, was arguably the biggest supporter of Scuderia Ferrari in Formula 1. Ferrari cars used to dominate the racing field with the “Marlboro” branding on the side panels.
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But then came the groundbreaking “no more tobacco” rule. F1 teams working with tobacco manufacturers have had to sever their relationship, with Ferrari being one such team. However, PMI stuck with the Maranello outfit internally without branding any of its products on the cars.
MONTE-CARLO, MONACO – Charles Leclerc of Ferrari and France during the final training for the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. (Photo by Peter J. Fox / Getty Images)
Over a decade later, PMI came back online, but in disguise. The Swiss-American company showed interest in a tobacco-free future and therefore started a campaign called “Mission Winnow”. This particular term landed back on Ferrari cars in 2018.
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But since then it’s been a pretty bittersweet period for PMI amid massive resistance from much of Europe. The last one was in 2021 when Ferrari had to remove the green “MW” branding from the car’s paintwork during race weekends in Hungary, Silverstone, Spa and more.
End of Ferrari & Mission Winnow?
Mission Winnow is no longer Ferrari’s title partner, according to the recently released F1 entry list 2021. If it’s true, it doesn’t necessarily come as a shock considering Mission Winnow has been present on the paint job for the past several months.
The updated starting list for the Formula 1 season 2022. Zhou has chosen number 24, Alfa has changed the name of the team (“Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN”), while Mission Winnow is no longer present as title partner. Ferrari # F1 pic .twitter.com / UH6UlNGc3n
– Gianluca D’Alessandro (@ Gianludale27) December 8, 2021
It is certain that PMI is unhappy with the way many countries have abused their tobacco control campaign. There have been visible frustrations within the PMI during this season.
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Formula 1 F1 – Turkish Grand Prix – Intercity Istanbul Park, Istanbul, Turkey – October 8, 2021 Ferraris Charles Leclerc in action during practice REUTERS / Murad Sezer
Hence, this could be one of the main reasons PMI decided to step down as Ferrari’s title sponsor. The bigger question now is who will replace MW as the title sponsor?
Well, Ferrari has yet to confirm whether the reports are true and whether they will opt for a replacement or continue working the 2022 season without a title partner.
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Of course, we would like Santander to return with Ferrari as a sponsor after it was cracked in late 2017. Let’s see how the future turns out for Ferrari in terms of the successors to Mission Winnow.
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The post New evidence appears to confirm that Ferrari F1 has ended its title partnership with Mission Winnow first appeared on monter-une-startup.
