When F1 sponsors were banned from the sport

F1 is not complete without sponsorships. Just imagine a classic livery totally plain and without all its sponsors and names, won't it seem weird? Yes, it will. Because sponsorships have now become a big part of all teams and F1 as a sport in general.

These sponsorships are important to the point where a lack of them can even dissolve a team. Every brand, however, has its own image and impacts its representatives both positively and negatively. As a conscious sport, F1 has often decided on parting ways with brands or deals that do not suit the sport's requirements for various reasons.

It is the very nature of the business world to drop and pick up deals and sponsorships now and then. F1 is also a business in itself and often does the same and sometimes even a ban is put into place to respect country/state or even world laws. Let's find out the sponsors that received a ban in the sport.

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#1 Tobacco is a big issue

Can anyone forget the iconic Marlboro logo on McLaren's livery during Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna's days? One might even say that the name itself was way more noticeable than anything else on the white and red livery. For the longest time, tobacco sponsorships were a big part of F1 by bringing in hefty amounts of cash to many teams.

As the world became more aware of the consequences of smoking, however, the European Union decided to ban tobacco advertising by 2005. The FIA followed suit, instructing teams to also make the change. It wasn't a consistent action, however, as they narrowed their decision down to just a "recommendation" of not using tobacco branding on the livery.

What did the teams do then? They knew they had to make a way out for the brand to be represented, maybe not directly but surely indirectly. And thus the cover-ups began. Though teams did remove the stickers in countries where strict tobacco rules were established, they often found creative ways in other races.

Obviously, they can't mention the names of the brands, so they would simply go for the brand logos. While everybody knew who sponsored the team, they still couldn't complain. Teams have also poked fun at brand removals by using question marks on liveries or removing certain words from the brand names.

Though many of the teams were successful in covering the livery in barcodes, team names, driver names, and whatnot, they can still get in trouble for directly using a tobacco brand name which is just not acceptable. For example, Ferrari's ties to Philip Morris International (Marlboro's owners) launched "Mission Winnow".

While everyone thought it would work, it simply caused Ferrari trouble and was taken off by 2021. McLaren also had to make changes to its cars for the 2019 F1 Australian GP, where British American Tobacco's initiative, called "A Better Tomorrow," was removed from its liveries. The action was a result of the signage falling foul of Australian laws prohibiting advertising of any tobacco-related product.

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#2 Alcohol is semi-banned in F1

Just like tobacco, alcohol sponsorships have also been a very big part of F1 for the longest time. Though they've managed to survive this long, becoming a bigger part of the sport throughout the years.

Over the years, the likes of Martini, Smirnoff, Johnny Walker, etc. have all played the role of acting as sponsors for various F1 teams. In fact, even car models have been inspired by some of the drinks that are made out of these liquors. Moreover, brands like Johnny Walker have even sponsored races and acted as F1's official whiskey.

Brands like Heineken also play a big role in putting out informative campaigns about drinking that make up a big part of advertising on various circuits. These sponsorships, however, need to go during certain races like Saudi Arabia, where alcohol advertising is banned. Williams' Martini-themed livery from 2014 to 2018 underwent tweaks and changes quite often due to different laws everywhere.

At the 2017 US GP, Lance Stroll was forced to wear a different kit to teammate Felipe Massa given he was under the legal drinking age of 21. Further, cover-ups of personal and team brands in nations like France and Saudi Arabia are extremely important. Barring a few races, however, alcohol is a big part of F1 even now.

People surely have different opinions on alcohol and tobacco advertising around the world. It depends on the individual as to how they take these brandings, which most definitely do not prompt an individual to always try them. Only the future will tell what happens next for these brands that have had such a global impact.