McLaren to first openly sponsor Vype e-cigarette in Bahrain

McLaren will be the first team to openly sponsor e-cigarette brand ahead of the Bahrain GP. It will be the first time in the history of Formula 1 where e-cigarette branding will openly be advertised despite the fact its still a tobacco related product. Vype's products basically contain tobacco content but it is heated rather than burning it.

Initially, like Ferrari with 'Mission Winnow' branding, McLaren also announced their partership with BAT (British American Tobacco) to create a similar type of slogan to establish a connection between the two firms, their branding was called 'A Better Tomorrow'. However it wasn't actually seen on the cars during the Australian GP due to the restrictions not complying with the advertisements done by the teams. Ferrari later opted for their 90 years of celebration to quickly get around the problem for the time being while McLaren changed their sponsor's name to '7 Eleven', a convenience shop in Australia.

Moreover it isn't the first time where the two companies have ever sponsored tobacco related products, their partnership goes way in the late 80s, where McLaren were sponsored by Marlboro, while Ferrari, although partially, was too sponsored by the PMI (Philip Morris International) brand. It was until 1997 where Marlboro ended their long relationship with the British team and favored for Ferrari for the coming seasons, while McLaren then were sponsored by West of BAT.

What came next was an epic battle between the two teams, not only for the drivers but also for the cars as they left an iconic imagery for the history of the sport. The teams kept their advertisements open till eventually in 2006 where European Union passed the law of tobacco advertisement ban. It is until now with e-cigarette branding, more teams will likely join the train fest to create a new generation of tobacco war.