I suspect they wouldn’t have been so quick to do this if they didn’t already have Santander splashed across the rear wing (and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Spanish bank make it on to the engine cover before too long), but this is as close to an admission of “Yeah, alright, you got us” as you’re ever going to get from the Scuderia.

Got to reproduce this final parting shot from them, though, as it might just be the funniest moment of the whole “saga”:

Together with Philip Morris International we have decided to modify the livery of our cars starting with the Barcelona Grand Prix.

This decision was taken in order to remove all speculation concerning the so-called ‘bar code’ which was never intended to be a reference to a tobacco brand.

By this we want to put an end to this ridiculous story and concentrate on more important things than on such groundless allegations.’

I mean… if the barcode had nothing to do with Philip Morris, then what exactly, pray tell, did they have to do with the decision?

Cracking stuff.

In case you’ve missed it, the basic gist is this – UK newspaper The Times recently ran a report on something that those of us who’ve followed F1 since the late ’90s or earlier have known for years: that the “barcode” pattern on Ferrari’s cars is a cunning way of masking the fact that they still receive sponsorship money from Marlboro, despite the fact that tobacco advertising in F1 was outlawed entirely in 2007. Laughably, Ferrari – sorry, “Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro”, to give them their full, officially-registered title – president Luca di Montezelmolo has since claimed that:

It is verging on the ridiculous to claim that the colour red or a graphic design which shows a barcode could induce people to smoke.

While an official statement from Ferrari claimed that:

The bar code is part of the livery of the car, it is not part of a subliminal advertising campaign.

All of this shows remarkably short memories on the part of Ferrari personnel. So in order to explain why people might possibly think that a red and white and black bar code logo has anything to do with Marlboro, let’s give them a bit of a history lesson…

Back in 1997, Marlboro first became title sponsors of Ferrari – in the process, changing the shade of red on their car to something closer to their own corporate orangey shade. It looked like the above. As with many teams that had tobacco advertising at this point (as Ferrari themselves had had for many years previously with Marlboro as non-title sponsor), certain races – notably Britain, France and Germany, but with others to follow – banned tobacco advertising at the track. This necessitated a “substitute” logo in the space that the sponsoring company had paid for – something that still served as a trigger for the company’s image, but didn’t outright say it. Williams had “Racing” (and, in ’97, “R.?”) in place of Rothmans, Jordan famously used “Bitten and Hisses” (and later “Buzzin Hornets” before finally “Be On Edge”) for Benson & Hedges, and so on. In replacing Marlboro, Ferrari generally tended to use a series of black blocks in place of the letters, and changed the chevron of the Marlboro logo to a simple red block. This was a strategy they’d also used previously (as had, on occasion, former Marlboro-sponsored team McLaren – although they would also sometimes just substitute the team name), and tended to look like this:

(although you’ll note that in the above picture, they’ve got away with keeping the chevron – they wouldn’t always manage this, though)

As the 2000s drew in, and a growing number of races banned tobacco advertising, Ferrari relied increasingly on the subliminal link drawn between the paint scheme on their car, and a packet of cigarettes. Sometimes they’d simply replace the lettering with white space, but it would still be clear enough exactly what it was supposed to say:

Come 2007, tobacco advertising in F1 was finally banned for good. Only three tobacco companies remained in the sport prior this point – Lucky Strike (whose parent company British American Tobacco had, in preparation for the ban, already sold the team to Honda), Mild Seven (departing Renault at the end of the year) and Marlboro. While the previous two left as expected at the beginning of 2007, Ferrari continued to be known officially as Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. Their 2007 car was the first to introduce what’s now known as the “barcode” pattern:

Which has persisted for the last few seasons, although you’ll note that although it was a simple white pattern on red when introduced, it changed into something significantly more reminiscent of a Marlboro logo as of 2009:

Ferrari’s argument is clear. The logo was significantly changed upon Marlboro’s official “departure” in 2007, and the new pattern is simply something they’ve chosen to emblazon on the car in the absence of a replacement title sponsor (although it wasn’t until Santander this year that another name was allowed to appear on the prime front-of-the-rear-wing slot). They can even justify the addition of black into the mix as of 2009 (otherwise a clear shift towards flashing “Marlboro” into people’s minds) by pointing out that black has been the colour of their typeface logo for a while now (and besides, pre-1998 Ferraris often featured black front and rear wings). It’s clear that none of this is actually true, of course, but it does stand up to scrutiny – you can’t definitively argue their intentions are anything other than they bare-facedly state.

Well, except for Monaco 2007.

Because at non-televised practice for the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix (and, I believe, possibly some other races that season) the Ferraris looked like this :

Compare this version of the car with the one seen at launch and races (and it’s the same on the engine cover, too) and it’s clear – the Marlboro lettering appears in exactly the same place, to the same scale, as the “barcode”. In other words, the barcode is a substitute for the Marlboro logo. Otherwise, why was it put on the cars in such a way for this practice session?

I’m sure Ferrari already have a carefully-prepared argument against this point – but although this has been going on for three-and-a-bit years now, The Times’ article is the first time the practice has come under proper scrutiny, and maybe – just maybe – they might yet be proven to have been too smart for their own good…

McLaren: Can’t really be blamed for sticking with the colour scheme that’s served them well over the past few years, nor for the clash with Mercedes (since they were doing silver first). I think the orange-red on the engine cover flowing into the rear wing is a bit overcooked, but the shade of chrome/silver looks really good on the lines of the car. 7/10

Mercedes: Can’t fault the desire to do something that harkens back to the glory years, but this only partly succeeds – lovely choice of silver (if too similar to the McLaren) and the race numbers look brilliantly retro. The black, though, works well on the nose but less so on the engine cover – and the turquoise is just a mistake, there should either be much more or much less of it. 5/10

Red Bull: Elements of this, notably the engine cover and nose tip, still work really well, and it’s a strong shade of blue. But other parts are perhaps a little too busy, and if I were in charge of it I’d maybe look to clean up and simplify it a bit. It’s also looking a bit tired after a few years in use. 6/10

Ferrari: A Ferrari is a Ferrari is a Ferrari, really. Aside from the additional white bits, not a huge amount to distinguish it from previous years; though compared with the rather menacing all-red job of the Raikkonen years, it calls back the late ’90s cars a bit more. 7/10

Williams: Loses points for being exactly the same as last year (even moreso than the McLaren, though slightly less so than the Red Bull) and although I liked it then, I’m starting to get quite bored of it now. Lovely shade of blue, and it’s smart and functional, but it’s really rather dull, and rolling it out again shows a singular lack of imagination. 6/10

Renault: Storming. I still can’t quite decide how well the red bits work (red and yellow looked good on a ’90s Jordan, but they’re quite un-Renault-ish, and the third colour on this car should clearly be white), but at least they add a sponsor to an otherwise blank car. Odd that they should play up the Renault connection now they’re not actually owned by the French marque, but it’s the livery many of us have wanted ever since they bought out Benetton, and done in quite daring fashion, so I can’t complain. 8/10

Force India: On the one hand, a bit more of a change from last year would be nice; on the other hand, it’s fair to say no F1 car has ever looked like Force India’s current livery, and that’s to be applauded. Perhaps a little bit wishy-washy, but orange is always good to see. 7/10

Toro Rosso: Nothing here really changes my usual opinion that the Toro Rossos are the Red Bulls’ uglier cousins – and the new red patch on the nose only really adds to that. And while the bull painting has become their distinctive identity, it’s another thing that has simply stuck around too long (remember when Jordan changed their nose animal every year?), and despite its existence these cars somehow blend into the background, perhaps due to the too-dark blue. Even moreso than the parent team, it’s time for a change. 4/10

Lotus: It’s just perfect, isn’t it? Alright, not quite – it could have some more exciting sponsors on there. But the shade of green (already, as long-time readers know, my favourite colour on an F1 car) is beautiful, the golden yellow offsets it beautifully, it’s got a terrifically retro look, it’s just… perfect. Shame about the shape of the chassis – blocky and outdated where others look sleek and modern – but this is still the best-looking F1 car in many a year. 10/10

HRT: By comparison, ugly and boring to a spectacular degree. Might look good with some sponsors on it, but I can’t fathom why anyone would paint a car in such a way that it’ll actually blend into the track. Just you wait for the first time someone blames a crash on not being able to see it. 1/10

Sauber: Some will find this boring, yes – but there’s a clean smartness to it (despite being, like most of this year’s cars, badly in need of sponsors) and I find the substitution of blue for black a quite clever twist on the way BMW have become Sauber (who, lest we forget, first ran in all-black livery) again. The nose thing is a little odd, though. 7/10

Virgin Racing: Another top job. Almost exactly the colour scheme we expected, this is nevertheless a lovely combination of three colours that simply work superbly together – and in a smart, “swooping” fashion that enhances the lines of the car. Not really sure about the point of the grey pattern at the back of the engine cover, but it’s a small quibble. 9/10

So that’s what I think – what about you? Agree? Disagree? Do you love the HRT, and hate the Lotus? Feel free to debate your favourite and least favourite cars (even add your own ratings, if you want!) in the comments below, and let’s see what the consensus is among you, the readers…!

It could have been a distinctive purple and white, to tie in to the corporate colours of the Hispania company.

It could have been a simple yet effective white, with Spanish flag trim, as we imagine the Campos might have looked.

But no. The newly-christened HRT (yeah… do you think anyone’s told them yet?) have unveiled their new livery today, and it’s… grey.

Not silver, you understand (although it’ll undoubtedly still be difficult to tell apart from the McLarens and Mercedeses on telly). But… grey. With a Spanish-themed stripe pattern that simply clashes. And barely any sponsors, except for a couple of rather bizarrely shaped boxes by the drivers’ heads. Hopefully Lopez and Chandhok will bring some names to the car before the 14th. Hopefully this was knocked together quite quickly and might be changed a bit by then, too. Hopefully it’s not just a slightly-altered version of how the Campos was going to look anyway. Because… that’s an ugly, ugly car. And given how good the other two newbies look, it reflects particularly badly. Virgin’s car looks as slow as a dog, but at least they’ve managed to hire a damn good livery designer.

Anyway, that’s our grid. I’ll be going over the new cars in full shortly – and getting your opinion on the colourful 2010 grid as a whole too – before spending the first race weekend examining any changes that take place in Bahrain, how the cars actually come out on track and on TV, and possibly even a run through of the drivers’ helmet designs. So stay tuned!

In the meantime, you may notice that – for the first time since launching the site in early ’07 – F1 Colours has a new look! I felt it was about time for a bit of a change as we go into our fourth season of livery discussion, so I hope you like the new design and logo. Keep your eyes on the site, too, as although we’ve almost run out of new cars to unveil, there’ll still be plenty of livery-related chat throughout the 2010 season, including some more historical features and guest contributions!

I’m in love. It’s beautiful. Green and yellow, edged with white. Unobtrusive sponsor logos, all elegantly in white. The race number in a circle. I’ll leave the experts to decide whether it looks any cop as a racing car, and others to debate the rights and wrongs of even calling it a Lotus and evoking that image. But as a livery, it’s the best I’ve seen on the grid in years – certainly in the four pre-seasons since I started this site. Epic, epic win.

I just hope the team survive long enough for us to get a Minichamps 1:43 model of it…

… comparing the car from the studio shoot (left) with the one unveiled at Jerez (right), it’s mildly interesting (if you’re me) to note that one car features Red Bull Cola branding on the rear wing endplate, while the other is an ordinary Red Bull can. Could it be that Vettel (#5) and Webber (#6) will be carrying different branding from one-another this season? Or is it simply a change of heart from management, taken after the studio shoot had been done? Does anyone actually care?

More reaction when they officially launch the thing and we get to see it properly, but for now, my reaction is one great big massive “YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHH”.

Aside from a bit of sponsor-shuffling (and the addition of Reebok to the rear-wing endplate [EDIT: except of course, as has been pointed out, that was added partway through last season!]), if you compare it to last year there’s a slight change in the layout of the orange and green – with a smarter, curved shape – on the side of the nosecone. Can’t argue with what they’ve done here, though – as I mentioned in my pre-launch speculation, the team have hit on a distinctive visual identity that clearly marks out what they’re all about (and, perhaps against expectations, the colours don’t look at all bad together), so expect to see evolutions of this design (and they are at least making tweaks to it, which is something) for a while to come.

So that’s nine down, and only four to go! With Red Bull launching a car that will almost certainly follow their standard livery tomorrow, we’ll just be left with three out of the four new teams to launch (although we’re still not even sure of the identities of all of those three, with the apparently-increasing possibility that Stefan GP will take the place of Campos Meta). Which are you most excited about (I personally can’t wait to see the Lotus)? Which has been your favourite 2010 livery so far?

Adorning a chassis that’s quite conservative by (so-far) 2010 standards, it’s nevertheless a lovely-looking livery. The engine cover layout calls to mind the ill-fated Midland team, with the side of the nose reminiscent of a mid-2000s Minardi; and the combination of red and black is basically exactly what you’d have expected from the team from day one. But nevertheless, it’s all come out rather classy-looking. Not sure what that grey pattern at the rear (also in red on the uniform legs) is all about, mind; but it’s also nice to see a new car that’s actually got a fair few sponsors on it (although it seems strange that a brand new team, even with Branson behind them, can attract sponsors where the likes of Renault and Sauber can’t). Still not entirely convinced about the team’s ability to compete this season – but the car’s there, it looks good, and it’s got a number 24 on it (which is pleasing for those of us looking forward to there being more than ten teams on the grid!) Top stuff. Just sort your website out next time, boys!