Ferrari renews partnership with Marlboro

2004 Ferrari carried the Marlboro logos

A brief press release issued this morning announced that "Scuderia Ferrari has renewed its multi-year partnership with Philip Morris International" thereby continuing the "collaboration of over 40 years".

It was twenty years ago that Marlboro ended its long association with McLaren, a partnership that went back to the early 70s, and joined forces with the sport's most iconic team, Ferrari, who subsequently raced as Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro.

However, tobacco's involvement in F1, which went back to the late 60s was under threat and when logos and names were banned from the sport in 2007, ten years into the deal with Marlboro, the Italian team subsequently incorporated the American company's barcode into its livery – though this was removed in 2010 – while the red and white corporate branding of both companies was always similar.

Like the contacts of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, the agreement with Marlboro was due to end this year, however with Maurizio Arrivabene – a former marketing director at Marlboro – in charge at Maranello, it was inevitable it would be renewed.