Scuderia Ferrari drops Marlboro from its name

While cigarette-brand logos once adorned most of the Formula 1 cars on the grid, tobacco sponsorship in F1 has been banned for years. The last holdout was Ferrari, but even that's been scaled back to oblivion over the past few seasons.

As countries hosting races gradually banned tobacco advertising, Ferrari was forced to remove the Marlboro name and logo from its cars at some grands prix. Eventually, it was removed altogether in favor of the bar-code graphic that was, according to some, designed to evoke the Marlboro logo while skirting the sponsorship rules. Last year, even that was dropped after controversy erupted over the issue.

The last vestige of the collaboration between Ferrari and Philip Morris remained in the team's name, but reports now indicate that's over. The team is reverting from Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro to Scuderia Ferrari. This change comes after the two outfits recently announced a renewal of their contract, but you to wonder what Philip Morris is getting out of its multi-million-dollar sponsorship deal at this point, and by extension, how much longer it will last.