Kicking the Habit

Yesterday, common sense prevailed in the world of Formula One as it was announced that the Quebecois authorities decided that Renault could use their usual black-and-gold colours at the Canadian Grand Prix. There had been uncertainty on the issue as the livery is inspired by the original Team Lotus cars of the 1970s and 1980s which were sponsored by cigarette brand John Player Special at the time, leading some to claim that the Renault cars could be seen to carry implicit tobacco advertising.


Until very recently, F1 had been something of a haven for the tobacco industry faced with the ever-tightening noose of advertising restrictions. Even as late as 2007, at three grand prix in the form of Bahrain, Monaco and China, the two Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa proudly boasted Marlboro decals on their rear wings and engine covers. What's more, the almighty EU was apparently powerless to prevent this blatant pedalling of cigarettes being beamed from areas outside of their jurisdiction into the homes of millions of Europeans.


At the other fifteen races however, the famous red cars adorned the notorious 'barcode', which was almost as effective. Any true F1 fan could've told you exactly what the barcode meant, and once more it seemed beyond the powers of anybody to break this last remaining link with an otherwise vilified industry which has enjoyed a unique love affair with the sport. However, at last year's Spanish Grand Prix, the barcodes disappeared as accusations finally arrived of them being used to continue to advertise tobacco subliminally. The Ferrari logo was therefore also amended at the start of this season, but if you look closely, there is still some subtle Marlboro DNA there.


That is, of course, because Marlboro is still the title sponsor of Ferrari as of the time of writing – the company continues to pump millions of dollars into the Italian team, and in return its name appears on the official FIA entry list (the cars are named 'Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro') and they keep the right to entertain their clients and stakeholders in association with the most famous team on the grid. They also organise the annual off-season 'Wrooom' event in the Italian Alps which brings Ferrari together with the Ducati motorcycle racing team, the tobacco firm's other remaining motorsport client.


Marlboro became Ferrari's title sponsor in 1997, but previously held an iconic association with the McLaren team that stretches all the way back to 1974. James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna all won championships at the wheel of the white-and-red cars, images etched firmly in the minds of F1 aficionados. Marlboro have also acted as minor sponsors for countless other teams, including Ferrari prior to 1997, Jordan, Tyrrell, Minardi and many more, with a significant proportion of the drivers in the late 1980s and early 1990s having had their careers supported by them, thus bearing the ubiquitous red chevron on their overalls.


When the EU did finally put their foot down over tobacco advertising in F1 in 2006, the only other brands still involved in the sport were Mild Seven and Lucky Strike. The former was a long-time partner of Benetton/Renault, with the first two titles of Michael Schumacher as well as the pair won by Fernando Alonso having been clinched in the light blue colours of the Japanese cigarette brand. Lucky Strike was less successful, but unique in the sense that its parent, British American Tobacco, owned the team in question – British American Racing (BAR), later purchased by Honda, which sadly opted to replace the cigarette brand with the horrendous 'earth car' livery in 2007.


The early 2000s saw many other famous partnerships between cigarette companies and teams terminated: McLaren ended their eight year-association with West in 2005, in which time Mika Hakkinen took back-to-back titles in the gorgeous silver and black cars; Jordan dumped Benson & Hedges in the same year, which had provided the team with its trademark bright yellow livery; and French brand Gauloises parted ways with Prost at the end of 2000, putting an end to an affiliation that stretched back to the 1970s with their respective fore-runners Gitanes and Ligier.


The original Team Lotus was the pioneer of tobacco sponsorship, and indeed sponsorship itself. Shockwaves were sent through the sport when its cars appeared at the 1968 Spanish Grand Prix not in traditional British Racing Green, but in the red, white and gold colours of cigarette brand Gold Leaf. After Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt both won the title in these colours, a switch was made in 1972 to the awesome black-and-gold livery of John Player Special. With Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti and Ayrton Senna all having driven in those illustrious colours, it was small wonder that Renault, in their new alliance with Lotus Cars, chose them for their challenger this year.


Williams have also attempted to evoke memories of past glories by incorporating the Rothmans red and gold stripes into their livery this year, which featured on the title-winning cars of Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve. The Grove-based team, after other stints with cigarette brands Barclay, Camel and Winfield, became one of the first to shun tobacco advertising in 2000 when it signed IT company Compaq as its title sponsor. Indeed, the giant hole in funding left by the exiting tobacco firms was filled by a variety of other industries, including telecoms, financial services, and the motor industry, with the rise of the car manufacturers roughly coinciding with the decline of tobacco.


Despite the fact that alcohol brands such as Johnnie Walker and Kingfisher have cropped up in F1 recently, increasing restrictions on their promotional activities make it unlikely they will become the next major cash-cow for the sport. Instead, expect energy drink manufacturers to become increasingly prominent, particularly off the back of the success of Red Bull. Rival beverages such as Monster, Rockstar, Relentless and Mad Croc have all become involved in various forms of motorsport in the last couple of years, car and bike racing seeming to fit their brand images perfectly as a fast-paced, high-energy world of excitement.


Sadly though, I doubt any of those brands will be able to give us such beautiful machinery as Marlboro, John Player Special, Camel and the rest provided back in those halcyon days. Furthermore, I wistfully remember the different ways in which the teams used to alter their liveries at tobacco-restricted events (principally the British, French and German rounds). Among my favourites were McLaren's tactic of replacing 'West' with 'Mika', 'David' or whoever else happened to be driving the car, Jordan's removal of several letters from 'Benson & Hedges' to spell 'Be On Edge', and the various imagery that appeared on the side-pods of the BAR cars in place of the famous Lucky Strike logo.


Alas, those days are now long gone. All I can hope for is that other teams in the future take a leaf (get it?) out of Renault's book and implement some of the other tobacco-inspired colour schemes from yesteryear with non-tobacco sponsors. Wouldn't it be fantastic if Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were to drive McLarens with the legendary Marlboro livery, but with 'Vodafone' written in the cigarette brand's place? Unfortunately, if Ferrari couldn't get away with the barcode, I sincerely doubt the boys from Woking wouldn't receive an even more vicious attack from the health and safety nuts of this world should they ever try such a thing. Oh well, I can always dream.