The World of Formula One: A Complex and Sometimes Troubling Sport

Ferrari, one of the most iconic teams in Formula One, has been at the center of attention lately due to their advertising strategies. It appears that their approach may have backfired, as it might be a sign of what's to come for other teams with tobacco sponsors. McLaren, another team with a tobacco sponsor, owned by British American Tobacco, has also had to remove their advertising ahead of the Australian Grand Prix. This move is part of Philip Morris' Guerilla marketing campaign, known as Mission Winnow, which aims to get people talking about the brand.

Philip Morris' advertising tactics are undeniably effective, getting people curious and even outraged. The company's bold logo on its car has been a point of contention among fans, who can't help but wonder what this logo is all about. It's not hard to imagine how Philip Morris benefits from the controversy, as humans are inherently curious creatures. This phenomenon is reminiscent of Radiohead's album "In Rainbows," which was initially met with skepticism but ultimately became a critical and commercial success.

However, Formula One has its share of other shady sponsors. Eyetime, the title sponsor of the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, turned out to be a messaging app that doubled as an MLM or pyramid scheme. This revelation comes as a surprise, especially since the CEO, Maglena Krumova, described the app as "world-changing" and "up-to-date." The truth behind eyetime is still shrouded in mystery, but it's clear that this company was involved in some questionable activities.

Formula One also has a history of attracting older men with wealth. This demographic is not typically associated with the sport, which might explain why Sugarbook, a dating app for sugar babies and rich men, sponsored the 2018 Singapore Grand Prix. Although they never directly sponsored a car, their presence was still felt, particularly when they were set to co-sponsor a party at a bar hosted by Williams' title sponsor, Martini.

Ethics in Formula One can be a complex issue. With billion-dollar multinational corporations involved, the sport often walks a fine line between high-stakes competition and shady behavior. The governing body of Formula One has been accused of being morally bankrupt on occasion, which is why sponsors like McLaren's tobacco-backed partner might not raise as many eyebrows. However, when these organizations come under scrutiny, it's essential to remember that sometimes, the ends justify the means.

The story of Prince Malik after he joined the Arrows team in 1999 is a fascinating one. After disappearing from the racing scene, he resurfaced in the US in 2005, this time as the sponsor of NASCAR Busch series driver Robert Richardson Jr. Allegedly, Prince Malik had stolen $750,000 from Richardson's dad and even spent time in jail for perjuring himself. Despite his questionable past, Prince Malik seems to have avoided any further involvement with Formula One.

As a fan of the sport, it's essential to be aware of the potential pitfalls that come with Formula One. With billion-dollar stakes and global attention, shady sponsors are inevitable. The world is watching, and sometimes, this scrutiny can lead to controversy. However, despite these issues, Formula One remains an exhilarating and captivating spectacle.

In conclusion, Formula One is a complex and multifaceted sport that often finds itself at the center of controversy. From tobacco-backed sponsors like McLaren to questionable entities like eyetime, the world of Formula One is not without its troubles. Nevertheless, with great power comes great responsibility, and fans must remain vigilant in their pursuit of truth and transparency.

As we await the return of Formula One, it's essential to remember that being kind and avoiding shady behavior are essential values in any community. Don't steal money; instead, focus on supporting organizations that promote positive change. If you're a fan of the sport, don't forget to follow your favorite teams and drivers on social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter.

Finally, be sure to check out our videos about Formula One, available on our website and YouTube channel. Our team works tirelessly to bring you up-to-speed coverage of all things Formula One. From news updates to in-depth analysis, we've got you covered. Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time!

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Like everybody elseI was looking forward tothe 2020 Formula One season,but since that gotpostponed for some reason,I started watching oldraces and realized somethinga lot of these companiessponsoring these carsdon't exist anymore.shady money has been apart of formula One DNAfor a long timeand with 490 million people watchingthere's no question why shady companieswanna get their name onthe side of a race car?What the heck are these companies do?Are they real?Where do they get their money?In this episode, we're gonnalook at some of the sketchiestliterally unbelievable companiesthat have a stake in FormulaOne racing and don't worry,there is a Nigerian princeinvolved with one of them.It's gonna be a bumpy ride.Hey guys, one more thing.We have a new sticker packavailable for pre orderit is the MOPOWA BABEHsticker pack available on donut.mediaIt's available for pre order five stickersand MOPOWA BABEH in sticker form.I'll just show you, there you go.Those are the stickers yougot MO POWA BABEH on board.That's probably my personal favorite,you know, a white one, a black one.This one's very cool.And then this looks kind oflike the more Moroso font,which I think is pretty awesomeMO POWA sticker pack $12 five stickers.Pretty awesome, more funthan you could ever imaginethe MO POWA stickerpack on the donut store.Go check it out.The cost of racing is insane.Formula One teams requirehundreds of millions of dollarsin order to compete every season.The amount of fundinga team can secure directly correlatesto how much a team wins.That's just how F1 works.It's the way most sports work frankly,more money, better engines,better drivers, Papa John'sjust baseball, the governing body of F1the FIA or FederationInternationale d'Automotivevery stringently regulates car technologyto maintain as much ofan even playing fieldon the track as possible,but they historically haven't done muchto balance the money side outkind of like how smallmarket teams in Americadon't get as big a budgetas the big market teamslike the Yankees versus the Oriolesor the Lakers versus the KingsFormula One will have a budget capfor the first time starting in 2021.But historically speaking,there's always been a big gapin the budgets between the highestearning teams and the lowest.Case in point Mercedes PETRONASspent the most in 2019,with $484 million dollars,which is almost three timesas much as the Williams teamspent in the same timeframe.This was less than theirprevious year's budgetof $150 million because Williamslost their title sponsor,Martini and Rossi, a companythat produces vermouth,a sweet liquor made from wineside note, their stuffis actually pretty cheapthought for sure that acompany sponsoring F1 teamwould have some really luxurious stuff,but it's like 850 a bottle.Anyway, Williams still hasto compete with Mercedesdespite the fact that they're workingwith $350 million dollarsless than Mercedessuffice to say a sponsordropped out can crippleor even doom teams,which is why sometimes F1 teamsend up with less than reputable backers.One recent example thatFormula One fans will rememberis the rich energy fiasco from last year,the only American owned teamin Formula One right nowis Haas and they fell victimto the shady a sponsorshipsituation of 2019rich energy a slick new energydrink with antlers for logobecame the title sponsor of the Haas team.It turned out that another F1 teamthe Force India team dismissed rich energyfor lacking substancebefore they went with Canadian billionaireLawrence stroll's moneythen Williams was actuallyabout to ink a dealwith rich energy but they didn't show up.Supposedly Williams story rich energy CEOand roadie for Imagine Dragonsset up a meeting with Williamsbut never made it to said meeting.Then a few days passed and thenews comes out that he signedwith Haas that should havebeen a red flag for Haasbut there's actually a third red flagthe fact that there was no productat a certain point in the 2019season people on F1 forumsand Reddit realized thatthey had never seen a canof rich energy in real lifewhen grilled about thelegitimacy of his companystory further confused everybodywhen he told motorsport.comthat when people say thatrich energy doesn't exist,that's like, quote sayingmen never walked on the moon,or that Elvis is still alive.Dude, there are easierways of telling peoplethat you have a product andyour company is a real company.Okay, there just are.Then someone dug up financial statementsfrom the company thatshowed their bank accounthad 581 British pounds or $770 total.Maybe the weirdest partof this story happenedon July 10 of 2019.When story went rogueand tweeted out quote,today, rich energy terminatedour contract with Haas F1for poor performance.I guess you can't get fired if you quit.This was news not only to Haasbut everyone at rich energythey tried to forcestory out of the companycalling his actionsthe result of the quoterogue individual, it was a whole thing.Rich energy never held uptheir side of the deal,probably because theyhad $700 in their accountand Haas got screwed in the endhaving to finish out theseason with one less sponsor.Rich energy was then takento court over the Antler logowhen they were forced to payWhyte bikes $30,000 in damage,which they never got.Williams story was eventuallypushed out of the company,and they rebranded as Lightning Volt.But this actually wasn't thefirst energy drink debaclein Formula One in the 1999 season,a mysterious prince fromNigeria and a fake energy drinkled to an F1 team going bankrupt.You can't make this up.The 53rd season of FormulaOne started in 1999.Mika Hakkinen was defendinghis world championship titlewith the McLaren team.Michael Schumacher wasrecovering from a broken legand the arrows team was tryingto figure out their finances.And to prince Malik Ado IbrahimPrince Malik offered thearrows $125 million dollarsto be a sponsor for a teamthat was as strapped for cashas arrows $125 mil couldcompletely turn their luck around.So team manager Tom Walkinshawagreed to let the printbankroll arrows the 99 seasondelivery that year was shared with Repsol.So the car was paintedin half Repsol orangeand the rear half paintedblack with a T minus logo.It's a very unique look.I'll give him that, princeMalik could always be seenin the paddock withcameras surrounding him.He ate up the attentionand didn't miss a chanceto promote his brand T minuswhat's T minus you ask?Well, it was supposedto be an energy drink.It was supposed to be a motorcycle brand.It was supposed to be a lot of things,but it never ended up beingmuch of anything at all.The plan was to debut thecompany in Formula Onethen sell rebrandedproducts like energy drinks,motorcycles, and bicyclesunder the T minus badge.They even planned onrebranding Lamborghini'sunder the T minus logo.Hey, you want to seemy T minus Lamborghini?No.(laughing loudly)No, T minus was actuallythe third energy drinkthat sponsored arrow in four years,the others being Hype energy drinkand Power Horse which we somehowdon't own the copyright to.Although T minus didmanufacture some energy drinks,they didn't make any money andby the end of the 99 season,prince Malik was nowhere to be found.When he was called upon tobuy the rest of his shares.No one could get in touch with him,and his shares ended up beingbought by an investment firm.Morgan Grunfeld who sued arrows in return,the arrows team had fallen preyto a real life Nigerian prince scheme.And unfortunately, the lossof this funding in other wordsled to the team shutting down in 2002.So what happened to prince Malik?Well, he popped up again a few years laterto sponsor a NASCAR driver,but more on that later.Hey, if you're liking this video so far,be sure to hit thatsubscribe button hit the bellso you never miss a video when they drop,which is every day ofthe week, It's crazy.One of the T minus logos this mirrored onereminded me of a morerecent mirrored logo.The Mission Winnow onFerrari's current car.I actually think it looks pretty sick.But what the heck is Mission Winnow.Winnowing is the processof removing the strawfrom the grain during the milling process.Mission Winnow has nothingto do with flour mills,when you go to their website,there isn't much information,not any useful information anyway,it's full of vague business termsand it almost feels likea parody of a corporation.Just listen to this quote,innovating and investingin an open dialogue,bringing people andbusinesses closer togethercreating a mutually beneficial ecosystem.Their Twitter soundslike a bot was programmedto jam as many corporate buzzwordsinto one sentence as possible.A little further digging and Ifound out that Mission Winnowis pretty much a shellcompany for Philip Morrisinternational or PMI.You know, the people thatown Marlboro cigarettes.Philip Morris has been inFormula One for decades.So why is it MissionWinnow and not Marlboroin 2006 the FiA banned tobaccosponsorships in Formula One,but since Mission Winnowis a new initiativethat's not pushing tobaccoproducts or any products at all.They're allowed to sponsora car despite being ownedby a tobacco company.Technically speaking, it's a CSRor Corporate Social Responsibility.In layman's terms MissionWinnow encompasses activitiesthat are meant to improvethe public standingof a corporation by portraying itas a responsible member of society.Basically, its PRthis wasn't the firsttime that Philip Morrisgot SSX tricky with it though.F1 fans might remember thebarcode logo on the Ferrari carfrom a decade ago, thatwas Marlboro's attemptat being subversive but watchdoggroups quickly caught onat a standstill itseemed like nothing morethan vertical lines, but at high speedthe barcode resembledthe Marlboro Chevron,the mission when a logois actually just theMarlboro Chevron on its side,it's the same dimensions,same shapes everything.It's a way for Marlboroto stay in Formula Onewithout actually being involved,guys, it's a loophole,a loophole that theWorld Health Organizationis looking to close very soon.Last year at the Australian Grand Prix,Ferrari was forced to removethe Mission Winnow logofrom the wing because of Australia'sstrict tobacco advertising laws.It wasn't just Australia either.Scuderia Ferrari was forcedto remove Mission Winnowadvertising for 11 ofthe 21 races of 2019.It looks like their advertisingstrategies spun out.It might be a sign ofwhat's to come thoughFerrari isn't the only teamwith a tobacco sponsor.McLaren is sponsored by a better tomorrow,which is owned byBritish American Tobacco.McLaren also had toremove their advertisingahead of the AustralianGrand Prix as well.It's sleazy, but in a way,it's pretty brilliant.What Philip Morris isdoing with Mission Winnowits Guerilla advertising,it gets people talking.I mean, how, I'm making avideo about it right now.They won, clearly.Philip Morris puts this huge,intriguing logo on their carthat has nothing to do with cigarettes.People find out about it,they get up in arms about it.And Philip Morris gets free advertisingbecause humans are inherently curious.I mean, again, I'm talkingabout it right now.It's like when Radioheadput out in rainbowsand years later, someonerealized that it fit exactlywith a computer and everythingwas based off zeros and onesits exactly like that.During the Austrian Grand Prix of 2018,viewers were puzzledby the eyetime bannersand advertisements.eyetime was the titlesponsor of the event,but no one had ever heardof this company before.at this conference,the CEO Maglena Krumovadescribes the all in one eyetime appas world changing social and up to date,because that's what sells meon an app if it's up to date.So what the hell is eyetime then?Well, it was a messagingapp much like WhatsApp,but really, I time was an MLMor Multi-Level Marketing scheme,also known as a pyramid scheme.And apparently, they're still activeand what they actuallydo is still a mystery.Krumova actually startedother pyramid schemesunder names Lyoness and my world,which also sponsored at one for a bit,and Lyoness was actually bannedfrom doing business in Norway.If you can't do business in Norway.I don't want to buy your product.There's Norway I'm gonnabuy yourself stuff.If there's one type of personthat Formula One attracts.It's old guys with a lot of money.That's probably why one ofthe sponsors of the 2018Singapore Grand Prix was Sugarbook,a dating app that matchedyounger sugar babieswith older rich men.Although they neversponsored a car Sugarbookwas set to co sponsora party at a bar hostedby Williams title sponsor Martini,that party would have been pretty grosshad it not been canceled,probably because it wouldhave been a PR nightmarefor Martini, and probablyWilliams as well.Look, I'm just a schmuck,but this is as good a time asany to bring up ethics in F1.For a billion dollarmultinational corporation,Formula One gets awaywith a lot of less than perfect behavior.It exists in this weird dichotomy, okay?On one hand, it's a world class sport.Second in popularity, only tofootball but on the other end,you have really sleazysponsorships cutthroat behaviorand sometimes a disregardfor human rights,and unfortunately it's beenlike that for a long, long time.This might be a little heavyand a little controversialbut when the governing bodyof a sport is sometimes morally bankrupt,a shady sponsor doesn't seemlike the end of the worldand that's probably whyFormula One attractsso many of them.Anytime you have anorganization worth billionsthere's gonna be some shadinessif you dig deep enough,so whatever happened to prince Malikafter he goes to the arrows team in 1999.Well, he popped upagain in the US in 2005.This time to sponsorNASCAR Busch series driver,Robert Richardson, Jr.Allegedly Prince Malik stole$750,000 from Richardson's dad,and even though he wasacquitted prince Malikwas jailed in Texas for perjuring himself.These days, he's back in Nigeriaand nowhere near the racing scene.Keep the hustle up dude.Don't do don't steal money.Look I love Formula One.I'm still gonna follow it.If it comes back toseason hopefully, it will.I just think when you haveso much money involvedin one thing and the world's attention,there's ultimately gonnabe some shady sponsors.Hopefully I'm not on anyFormula One blacklist.Hopefully I could getinvited to something soon.Follow donut on Instagram and Twitterat donutmedia follow me at Nolanjsykes.Subscribe to donutmedia, weput out a video every day,which is crazy.Check out these videos about Formula Oneare up to speed as finallyyou can watch them upto speed on Formula One.Be kind.Don't steal money.See you next time.