From Friday's free practice day on the French circuit of Le Castellet, Ferrari showed up on track without its main brand on the bodywork, for the first time this season, the scuderia from Maranello had to renounce to the Mission Winnow sponsor on its car.

The reason was related to the anti-tobacco laws in force in France, which prohibit any reference to companies in the sector.
Mission Winnow is a brand that refers to a campaign launched by Philip Morris International (PMI), which is one the largest tobacco company in the world, to encourage the transformation and replacement of cigarettes with smoke-free products. Hence the inability of Ferrari to use it in the French Grand Prix.

The brand appeared on the red cars at the end of 2018 and in the last French Grand Prix and the 2019 one, Ferrari had replaced it with the Scuderia's 90th anniversary emblem.

“If you look as well at last year's or previous years, there were races where we are not having to logo on the car,” Binotto said, according to Motorsport.com.

"That was down to the regulations of various countries, and we are simply trying to respect it as we did in the past and still do today."

Ferrari and F1 represent one of the greatest expressions of research, science and technology, so the very close link between PMI and the Cavallino since the mid-1980s is easily understandable.

Our favourite detail 🌶✨#essereFerrari 🔴 @MissionWinnow pic.twitter.com/LUx488PvnV

— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) June 22, 2021

The contract that binds the company and Ferrari is about to expire, but the Ferrari Team Principal underlined how the two parties are interested in continuing their journey together.

"The contract is finishing by the end of the year," - Binotto said - "But we have discussions ongoing with PMI which has been a very strong and close partner for us for many, many years, and the relationships are good."

"So how it will be concluded, I think we will see in the next months."