Ferrari and Philip Morris enter a new ‘smoke‑free’ chapter of a 50‑year alliance

Under the dusk floodlights of Yas Marina, as mechanics wheel the scarlet SF‑25 through a haze of brake dust and hot rubber, one of Formula 1’s oldest partnerships is quietly writing another chapter. Look closely at the flanks of the Ferrari this weekend and you’ll see it: a new ZYN logo, the latest evolution of a 50‑year dance between Maranello and Philip Morris International.

On December 3, Ferrari and PMI confirmed what had been building in the background all season: a renewed, deepened deal that carries their alliance into a “new phase” focused on smoke‑free products and technology-led innovation. PMI becomes a Premium Partner of Scuderia Ferrari HP and a Series Partner of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli from 2026, while its leading nicotine pouch brand ZYN will appear on the F1 livery at selected races, starting in Abu Dhabi.

Ferrari framed the move as a natural extension of a relationship that has survived changing regulations, shifting public attitudes and a wholesale rebranding of Big Tobacco’s image. In Maranello’s own words, this is a partnership “grounded in scientific progress and a long-term perspective”, now retooled around PMI’s smoke‑free portfolio rather than the Marlboro chevrons that once defined the team’s look.

“Ferrari has always valued partnerships built on innovation, responsibility and a vision oriented toward continuous improvement, with a forward-looking mindset… As PMI advances the development of smoke-free alternatives, we are proud to evolve together, uniting our shared values of excellence, discipline and innovation to drive progress both on and off the track.”

— Lorenzo Giorgetti, Chief Racing Revenue Officer at Ferrari, speaking to Ferrari and Business Wire

For PMI, the new phase is explicit: this is about using Ferrari’s global spotlight to accelerate its strategic pivot from cigarettes to what it calls a “smoke-free future”. Since 2008 the company says it has poured more than $14 billion into developing and commercialising non‑combustible products – from heated tobacco devices to oral nicotine pouches – with smoke‑free lines already making up over 40% of its net revenues.

“PMI shares with Scuderia Ferrari HP the pursuit to innovate and challenge the status quo for millions of adults that share this passion… By further enhancing our partnership with Scuderia Ferrari HP, we hope to accelerate the replacement of cigarettes, and we want our adult consumers of nicotine products, like ZYN, to embrace and enjoy every moment of this thrilling ride.”

— Stefano Volpetti, President Smoke‑Free Products & Chief Consumer Officer, PMI, via Business Wire

The ZYN branding that now glows under the Abu Dhabi floodlights is the most visible symbol of that pivot. Described by PMI as the “number one nicotine pouch brand globally”, ZYN is tobacco‑free but nicotine‑rich, authorised by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for marketing in America and sold in more than 100 markets worldwide. To PMI, Ferrari’s fanbase – passionate, global, technology‑obsessed – is the perfect audience for this new generation of products.

Yet if this is a break from the old Marlboro era, it is also a clear continuation of a strategy that has survived every regulatory chicane the sport has thrown at it. Academic work studying PMI’s Formula 1 marketing describes how the company moved from overt Marlboro logos to barcodes, then to the Mission Winnow initiative in 2018, all designed to link the Ferrari name with what PMI presents as “next‑generation” products and corporate transformation rather than cigarette packs.

The new agreement, with ZYN on the car and PMI recast as a champion of science and innovation, is that playbook updated for 2025. The red car remains; the product has changed. What lingers is the association: speed, glamour, cutting‑edge engineering – now wrapped around a nicotine pouch.

Inevitably, that has drawn fire. Public health advocates argue that however carefully PMI talks about “adult audiences” and “responsible marketing”, the sheer reach of Formula 1 in the Netflix and social‑media age makes it a powerful conveyor belt to younger fans. Campaign for Tobacco‑Free Kids, responding directly to the Ferrari–PMI announcement, accused the company of “blowing smoke” about not targeting youth, pointing to F1’s own surveys trumpeting rapid growth among Gen Z viewers.

From their perspective, putting ZYN on a Ferrari is less about harm reduction for existing smokers and more about bathing a nicotine brand in the glow of the sport’s most iconic team – much as Marlboro once did when tobacco hoardings lined every corner. A detailed Stanford University review of PMI’s past F1 activity has already chronicled how Mission Winnow and paddock activations built subtle bridges between Ferrari, innovation rhetoric and PMI’s emerging smoke‑free devices.

That tug‑of‑war between branding and responsibility sits at the heart of this new phase. Ferrari insists any initiatives will “adhere to strict principles of responsibility and be directed exclusively at an adult audience”, conscious of the scrutiny that dogged Mission Winnow when regulators in places like Australia forced the logo off the car. PMI, for its part, stresses regulatory approvals, health warnings and clear messaging that products like ZYN are addictive and not risk‑free.

But in the heat shimmer of an F1 pit lane, subtlety is lost in the spectacle. As the SF‑25 fires out for a qualifying run, DRS flap wide open, cameras tracking every downshift and dab of opposite lock, what millions see is simple: Ferrari, red, fast – and ZYN. Half a century after Enzo Ferrari supposedly quipped that “a Ferrari does not smoke”, the team’s most enduring backer is still a nicotine company, only now dressed in the language of disruption and smoke‑free science.

For Scuderia Ferrari HP, this is the commercial equivalent of nailing the undercut: locking in a powerful, long‑term partner as the sport hurtles toward its 2026 rules reset and ever‑rising costs. For PMI, it is a chance to prove – or at least to sell – its transformation story in front of one of the most emotionally engaged audiences in sport. Between them, team and sponsor are betting that fans will accept this new chapter as progress rather than a throwback.

The lights will go out, the engines will scream and the lap charts will tell us who wins on Sunday. The verdict on this renewed alliance will take far longer to arrive. Is this truly the front straight of a smoke‑free future, or just the same old relationship, repainted for a new era? As ever with Ferrari and Philip Morris, the racing is only half the story.