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Ferrari have officially dropped Mission Winnow, Weichai, and UPS as sponsors of their F1 team. The Italian squad has instead rekindled its partnership with Santander, and added Velas, a blockchain company.
The 2022 Ferrari will not feature the Mission Winnow logo, which has appeared on the car since 2020. The team is still negotiating with Mission Winnow's parent company Philip Morris International (PMI) regarding their partnership.
The team has also dropped its partnership with Chinese diesel giant Weichai, with its logo no longer featuring on Ferrari's website.
Next season, Velas will be a key sponsor of the team and could possibly feature on the 2022 car. The Maranello-based squad has signed a deal with the blockchain firm and plans to create digital products for fans, who could possibly expect to own NFTs from the team in the near future.
Ferrari made a statement about Velas, confirming the Swiss Blockchain tech company will be title sponsors of the Ferrari Esports Series, which said:
"In addition, Velas will be Title Sponsor of the Ferrari Esports Series, the online mono-brand series of the Prancing Horse, and of the esports team that will compete in the F1 Esports Series, the official digital championship competed in by all teams participating in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship."
Shell could help Ferrari make up for 20 horsepower in 2022
As per team principal Mattia Binotto, their cars had a 20-horsepower deficit to the Mercedes engines at the Italian Grand Prix earlier this year, causing Charles Leclerc to lose out on a podium finish. Ferrari's fuel partner Shell is reportedly developing a type of E10 fuel which could help eliminate this shortcoming. Binotto said:
"We confirmed at Monza that Ferrari is missing 20 horsepower from McLaren’s Mercedes engine. We lost most of the time on the last stretch before the Parabolica, with a similar loss on the finish straight. The lack of performance is also noticeable when restarting and overtaking."
Only time will tell whether Ferrari's 2022 engines will be competent enough to challenge the likes of Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, who were often miles ahead of the Italian team in 2021.
