Kimi Raikkonen’s smokey episode back in Malaysia got us here, at F1 Badger, thinking about the long absence of the Marlboro logo on the Ferrari’s rear wing.  The last time F1 saw any tobacco advertising was on the Ferrari cars at Monaco, Bahrain, and China in 2007.  Since then, Bahrain has passed a law banning all tobacco advertising, due to come into effect this year.

Given all this, how can tobacco advertising and sponsorship have any realistic future in F1?  Back in 1968, the first ever commercial sponsor in F1 was Gold Leaf on the Lotus car of Graham Hill.  It was only in 1996, that Stewart Grand Prix became the first F1 team in the modern era not to be sponsored by a tobacco company.  And everyone must remember the furore surrounding Bernie Ecclestone’s £1million donation to the Labour party in order to secure an exemption for F1 from the ban on tobacco advertising.  It’s the ‘lie-gate’ of the 90s, and has still yet to be fully cleared up, despite the release of pretty incriminating documents last year under the Freedom of Information Act which reveal the full extent of Tony Blair’s involvement in demanding a “permanent derogation” for F1.

McLaren are no longer sponsored by West, and neither are Renault by Mild Seven.  So what’s in it for Marlboro?  If you’ve been watching F1 for a while then you’ll remember what’s actually meant to be on Kimi’s rear wing and engine cover instead of the barcode, “that’ll be £1 million for the Ferrari F1 car and a packet of Wotsits”.   To anyone relatively new to the sport it is still just a meaningless barcode.

It’s a little known fact that yes, the barcode does still mean Marlboro, maybe not literally if put through the scanner at Tesco, but the tobacco brand do still pay Ferrari a yearly sum.  Sounds mad but they have a special arrangement whereby after paying Ferrari X million dollars they gain control of the livery and can sell off space to other companies who pay Marlboro Z million dollars.  If all the Z million dollar sums equal more than the X million dollars they paid Ferrari then the cancer stick manufacturer has made a tidy profit.  Clever folk.

For an industry that was once synonymous with Formula 1, it’s lucrative sponsorship helping turn F1 into the most expensive sport in the world, it is now all but ancient history.  Maybe F1 should have read the warnings on cigarette packets, because the massive cash injection brought in from tobacco advertising no doubt lead F1 into a spiralling ’spend spend spend’ culture.  Now, with the global financial crisis (or whatever the media are calling it today) and no tobacco advertising, F1 is having to make massive steps in cost cutting to enable the sport to survive.  Your packet of 20 Marlboro reds now bare photos alongside warnings such as “smoking kills” – a message F1 should have taken more seriously.  It’s an interesting point that while banks, superstores and f1 feel the effect of the credit crunch, the cigarette companies are absolutely fine.

This John Player Lotus may be one of the best looking F1 liveries ever, but do we actually miss advertising of the evil cancer-sticks?  No, not really.  And evidently, despite earlier reservations to the contrary, F1 is showing signs that it can survive without its millions.

On a side note – we’re all pleased here at Badger that our the Editor-in-Chief Adam Milleneuve has finally given up his habit and is leading a happier and no doubt, longer life.  He’ll have some more pocket money too.