The rise, fall and tentative return of tobacco cash in F1
Overt cigarette advertising bit the dust after the turn of the millennium, but tobacco companies now want to communicate that their businesses are changing for a smoke-free world. STUART CODLING asks if F1 can be a vehicle for that message
For just over three decades tobacco was the key fuel in Formula 1's commercial engine. More than mere sponsors, the big hitters of the industry were F1's kingmakers. In its pomp, Philip Morris International's Marlboro brand and its delegate, John Hogan, moved and shook: the McLaren team we know today came about as a result of a shotgun marriage Hogan arranged between the ailing post-Bruce equipe and Ron Dennis's thrusting young Project Four operation.
Sponsorship has been part of the fabric of motorsport since the very first organised races, although overt sponsorship was restricted by the Commission Sportive Internationale (the FIA's sporting arm) until late 1967. It had become a sticking point because 'invisible' sponsors such as oil companies and spark plug suppliers could only associate themselves with teams and cars in separate advertising, while the tyre manufacturers had their logos in plain sight.
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