According to Wikipedia – and the Formula 1 pages over there are very reliable – Marlboro no longer officially sponsors Ferrari. And by that, I mean the official team name as it appears on FIA entry lists is “Scuderia Ferrari”, and not “Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro”. I believed the brand was dropped from the Ferrari name at Silverstone last year. And although some people claim that the Scuderia Ferrari logo introduced around the same time was subliminally designed to resemble a cigarette package, Marlboro’s packet design has not been changed for years.
Honestly, I’m surprised that Phillip Morris still buy up all the space on the car. Few companies would be entirely comfortable with the idea, and most of the brands that do appear on the Ferrari – Shell, Kaspersky Labs, etc. – are technical partners that only have small(er) logos. Santander are the only real sponsors, and even then, their logos don’t dominate. I guess most sponsors have a problem with being associated with a cigarette brand, much less paying the owners of that brand for sponsor space. So without Marlboro branding (or even the barcode design), Phillip Morris would have to be running at a loss, even though they’re apparently paying Ferrari until 2015 (or possibly even until 2017). I would have thought that Phillip Morris would back out of the deal by now, and Ferrari would get a new title sponsor. “Scuderia Ferrari Santander”, perhaps, or – if Sergio Perez were to join the team – “Scuderia Ferrari Claro”.
