How Ferrari and McLaren gave F1 an incurable headache

A €350million investment does not occur without good reason. Just because tobacco advertising was banned more than a decade ago doesn't mean that the companies themselves or Formula 1 teams have forgotten the massive benefits that could be had from a tie-up.

Tobacco advertising grew into one of the most globally scrutinised elements of F1, thanks to shifting social attitudes towards smoking and increasingly strict laws in Europe and the wider world.

So, while it may be no great surprise to see the re-emergence of visible sponsorship from tobacco companies in F1, the weight of scrutiny that has swiftly followed was also to be expected.

We saw the first tangible signs of the re-emergence of tobacco companies in F1 at last year's Japanese Grand Prix, when long-time Ferrari title sponsor Philip Morris International finally revived its right to brand the cars by using it to advertise 'Mission Winnow'.

Within a few months PMI found itself under investigation: ahead of the new season, Australia's Department of Health and Victoria's Department of Health and Human Services were looking at whether the Ferrari backing was in breach of tobacco advertising bans.

At the first race of 2019 we witnessed the impact of that scrutiny. Ferrari removed the branding for the season-opening grand prix, its official entry name was changed from 'Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow' to 'Scuderia Ferrari', and it arrived in Melbourne with a tweaked livery, team branding, the whole nine yards.

It did so voluntarily, for neither the team nor its backer has been declared to have committed any wrongdoing. In a tweet, Mission Winnow said: "We are here to stay. Mission Winnow will remain the title partner of the Scuderia Ferrari team. The changes are currently planned only for Australia."

However, it had significant symbolic value. Money from tobacco companies was always going to draw attention. We saw in Melbourne that such companies can't just return to prominence in F1 without serious scrutiny.

This is an incurable headache for F1. It strengthens the status of two major teams, without trying to break any rules

Changing branding at short notice is a very significant step for F1 teams to take, especially when there was no legal instruction to do so. It went beyond Ferrari: British American Tobacco was meant to be back on the F1 grid in Australia too.

The former owner of the BAR team has struck a partnership with McLaren and is planning to display its 'A Better Tomorrow' slogan on McLaren's MCL34 - but, again voluntarily, the team opted to remove the branding from its car and teamwear for the season opener.

This was again a result of the ongoing Ferrari investigation: better safe than sorry. Phillip Morris and Ferrari have been adamant that the Mission Winnow project does not breach any anti-tobacco advertising legislation because it's focused on the firm's non-tobacco projects. McLaren has also made it clear that its own deal with BAT does not have "any relationship with the tobacco side of the business".

This is an incurable headache for F1. It strengthens the status of two major teams, without trying to break any rules. It could potentially help others if this is given the green light and thus tempts other tobacco companies to partner with other teams.

But it also means that for as long as such deals are in place, F1 will never escape the scrutiny of tobacco advertising watchdogs that it must have thought it had said goodbye to many years ago.

There will be a degree of eyebrow-raising in some social circles, too, and that can impact who wants to be associated with F1 or support teams, drivers and events.

If it was allowed to be a pure business decision, there would be little room to criticise Ferrari's deal, or McLaren's. Decades of high-profile tobacco sponsorship led to some of the most iconic imagery in F1 history, made many drivers' careers possible and funded entire teams.

In return for what it got from such sponsorship from the late-1960s to the mid-noughties, the F1 grid was an unapologetic haven for companies to give their brands major exposure in front of a global audience. It's a very good trade.

Tobacco sponsorship has not been directly seen on an F1 car in over a decade, but the move to make that happen occurred back in 2001. The world governing body the FIA made it clear it wanted to stub out relationships with cigarette companies. Several teams were flush with, if not reliant on, fag money - Ferrari/Marlboro, McLaren/West, Benetton/Mild Seven, BAR/Lucky Strike, Jordan/Benson & Hedges.

The FIA reckoned that at the time the combined sponsorship value was more than $350m. But since 2007 only one of those relationships has remained: Ferrari's with Philip Morris International.

Until late-2018 and the rise of Mission Winnow, money from PMI simply flowed into the Ferrari coffers without any advertising. 'Mission Winnow' and 'A Better Tomorrow' are ideals; ethereal visions of a better future by investing in new technology and transforming the parent companies. They are not cigarettes. They are not e-cigarettes. So, no harm, no foul.

PMI and BAT get their message out there without, it seems, contravening any laws. To characterise this as tobacco companies sneaking back into F1 through the back door carries a certain subtext.

This is not surprising given the aversion towards the use and advertisement of cigarettes in society. However, the rise of e-cigarettes and other 'potentially reduced-risk products' suggest that certain people will always want to smoke - it just depends what.

So why would companies not seek ways to promote the information that they are also apparently changing with the times? This is fine in itself, but it will not happen easily. Individual authorities, like Australia, are already acting.

F1 is not governed by one law-making body, but the European Union is the organisation that covers the largest ground given that it currently includes 10 countries hosting grands prix and sets the rules for many more countries regarding what can appear on television.

The EU's position on tobacco advertising is that it remains forbidden in all types of media. This ban, set out in the 2003 Tobacco Advertising Directive, "covers advertising and sponsorship with the aim of the direct or indirect effect of promoting a tobacco product".

If only products that are good for you or good for the world were allowed in F1, then it would have to add alcohol, energy-drink and gambling sponsorship to the banned items list

A follow-up directive one year later banned the same activities regarding e-cigarettes. These were reinforced in 2010 by another directive prohibiting advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products and e-cigarettes in all forms of commercial communications "including product placement".

The European Commission "has been made aware" of the return of tobacco companies advertising on F1 cars and said last month that "they will require further examination".

That means that either, or both, Ferrari/PMI or McLaren/BAT have been brought to the attention of certain powers-that-be. While the world continues to move away from the use of tobacco products, tobacco companies have not found a clean alternative. BAT is one company that refers to its electronic alternatives as "potentially reduced risk".

This indicates that while these are probably better than cigarettes, they are not without their dangers. These are fine lines to tread. F1 could ill-afford to act on a purely moral basis. If only products that are good for you or good for the world were allowed in F1, then it would have to add alcohol, energy-drink and gambling sponsorship to the banned items list.

Which would mean F1 says goodbye to two racing teams (Red Bull and Toro Rosso), its headline sponsor (Heineken) and prominent partners for several teams (Racing Point/SportPesa and Haas/Rich Energy). And that's just the start.

When this week's Bahrain Grand Prix action starts, Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow will be back on the official entry list. McLaren, at the home grand prix for its Bahraini backers, will have BAT's chosen branding on its car again. F1 will be back to advertising 'Mission Winnow' and 'A Better Tomorrow' and all involved will just be relieved that the Melbourne ordeal is behind them.

F1 may have briefly escaped its renewed, tobacco-related scrutiny, but it will almost certainly not end here. The championship and its teams are on full display and at the mercy of their critics.

Maybe it will come to nothing, and such sponsorship deals will get global approval. But standing in the spotlight is not a good place to be with a headache like this.