NOVEMBER 30, 2000
Tobacco war hotting up
In recent years Imperial - which was the first commercial sponsor in F1 in 1968 with the Gold Leaf brand - has bought the Rizla company, the Dutch firm Van Nelle and several ex-Rothmans companies in Australia and New Zealand.
With all of the medium-sized European tobacco companies competing to buy there is going to be pressure on two of the firms which are big players in F1: Reemtsma (West) and Gallaher (Benson & Hedges).