Ferrari drops Mission Winnow branding for two more races

As reported by Motorsport.com when the factory Ducati MotoGP team announced it would not run its own Mission Winnow livery in France, Ferrari was expected to steer clear of the controversial branding for the next two F1 races.

Ferrari has now confirmed it will instead use the 90th anniversary branding it rolled out for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

The team chose to remove its Mission Winnow branding for the first race of the season after it emerged Australian authorities had launched an investigation into whether the initiative introduced by Ferrari title sponsor Philip Morris late last year contravened laws banning tobacco advertising.

To avoid any potential problem, Ferrari replaced the logos from its car, the team's garage panels and personnel uniforms with references to the company’s 90th anniversary.

Ferrari’s official entry was also changed from Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow to simply Scuderia Ferrari. The entry returned to having Mission Winnow in the name from the next race in Bahrain and has been in place ever since. 

Ferrari's change to 90th anniversary branding will remain specific to the Canadian and French GPs, with the team reiterating that “Mission Winnow remains the title partner for Scuderia Ferrari in 2019”.

Ferrari’s 2019 car, the SF90, is already named in honour of the company’s birthday celebrations.

Earlier this month Ferrari opened a “90 anni” exhibition, which will run until April next year, at its Maranello museum. It features a selection of significant cars from the team’s history.