Mattia Binotto Contradicts Recent Speculations Around the Controversial Ferrari-Mission Winnow Partnership

A few days back, the FIA officially released the 2022 F1 season’s entry list of the teams. And, rather unsurprisingly, there were a couple of changes compared to 2021; One being the addition of ORLEN alongside Alfa Romeo Racing. However, the other change starring Ferrari ended up attracting the biggest attention.

They no longer had ‘Mission Winnow’ in their team name. Consequently, this led to many wondering whether MW led by Philip Morris International is no longer the title partner of Ferrari.

La entry list aggiornata per la stagione 2022 di Formula 1. Zhou ha scelto il numero 24, l’Alfa ha modificato il nome del team (“Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN”), mentre al momento non è più presente Mission Winnow come title partner Ferrari #F1 pic.twitter.com/UH6UlNGc3n

— Gianluca D’Alessandro (@Gianludale27) December 8, 2021

Furthermore, this major tweak triggered speculations that pointed towards the end of their half-a-century partnership with the Maranello outfit. But, in reality, it looks like Mission Winnow will remain as the title partner of Ferrari despite their branding being scrapped off the team name in 2022.

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Ferrari F1 boss hints at partnership extension with PMI

Ferrari F1 team principal, Mattia Binotto, hinted that the team will continue to work with one of their closest partners, Philip Morris International. The Italian revealed the same during his season-ending statement with the Reds.

“I want to thank our Partners who continue to support us. First and foremost Philip Morris International, who have been with us for over forty years. Their support is always important and will continue to be so in the future,” Binotto said.

When the initial rumor emerged, it almost looked like truth to many eyes. Although Ferrari embraces a special partnership with PMI, the latter’s controversial campaign, Mission Winnow, haven’t gained much support from the F1 community.

Formula One F1 – Italian Grand Prix – Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy – Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto before the race REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini

The sport carries a rule of ‘No Tobacco’ branding on the cars. Hence, even though Mission Winnow is a campaign that pushes for a tobacco-free future, the fact that this campaign originated from a mere tobacco manufacturing company has led to a lot of conspiracies, especially around Europe.

Ferrari had to scrape the eye-buzzing Green MW branding off the car over multiple Grand Prix events in Europe. Hence, following such a bitter-sweet relationship with Ferrari this season, the absence of MW from the team name only led many to assume that PMI had finally broken their partnership with Ferrari.

Overall, by the looks of it, both Philip Morris International and Ferrari will continue to work together for years to come. But, are more twists in store? Well, we’ll know in time.

Read More: Why did Ferrari Sign Carlos Sainz? 

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