Formula 1 tobacco sponsorship. In the seasons from 1968 to 2006 a tobacco sponsored car won 28 out of 39 formula one drivers titles or nearly three quarters of the championships that were up for grabs. Enter the world of formula 1. British american tobacco plc is expanding its sponsorship of the mclaren formula one team next year to boost marketing of cigarette alternatives as controversy rages over whether tobacco branding.
In fact phillip morris international pmi and british american tobacco bat spent us 110 million on formula 1 sponsorships in 2019. In 1968 team lotus rolled out its cars in the red white and gold colours of gold leaf cigarettes and the rest was history. In 2006 the commitment was watered down to a suggestion to turn down tobacco sponsorships.
The liveries are usually changed for every season in the sport marking the marketing ideas of the sponsors. F1s governing body the fia federation internationale de lautomobile made a public commitment in 2001 that it would ban tobacco sponsorship from international motor sport by 2006 in line with a world health organization treaty the framework convention on tobacco control. Of the top 10 drivers in the 1995 world championship nine competed with the logos of cigarette brands.
Scuderia ferrari by the mid nineties tobacco sponsorship had become synonymous with formula 1. Your go to source for the latest f1 news video highlights gp results live timing in depth analysis and expert commentary. Britains biggest tobacco firm and one of its major rivals are under fire for signing multimillion pound sponsorship deals with formula one teams that health campaigners claim are being used to.
At the time of the ban the fia estimated that tobacco sponsorship contributed in excess of 350m annually across f1 and wrc which was a huge amount of money to lose.