Company News
ZYN Debuts on Ferrari F1 Cars at Monza in Philip Morris Smoke-Free Push
The nicotine pouch that dominates the market is now riding on the most famous cars in motorsport. At the Italian Grand Prix in Monza on September 6, 2026, ZYN branding appeared on the Scuderia Ferrari HP Formula 1 cars for what Philip Morris International (PMI) called the brand's first "home race." PMI and Ferrari used the weekend to launch a joint initiative they are calling "The Power of a Second," marking the most visible step yet in PMI's effort to turn a 50-year cigarette sponsorship into a smoke-free one.
How ZYN Ended Up on a Ferrari
Philip Morris has sponsored Ferrari's F1 team for more than five decades, first under the Marlboro name and, after the European Union's 2006 tobacco advertising ban forced cigarette logos off the cars, through the deliberately vague "Mission Winnow" branding. PMI acquired Swedish Match, ZYN's maker, in 2022, and in December 2025 it announced an expanded agreement with Scuderia Ferrari HP and the Ferrari Challenge series that would put ZYN on the F1 livery and team assets at selected races in 2026 and beyond.
The first appearance came at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 7, 2025, according to the Moodie Davitt Report, a travel-retail trade publication. PMI formally presented the partnership at the Ferrari Museum in Maranello on February 5, 2026. Nikolaus Ricketts, PMI's president of oral products, framed it in the company's usual terms, saying the moment was about giving adults better choices than continued smoking, GQ Middle East reported.
What Happened at Monza
Monza was the first time the ZYN-branded Ferraris raced in Italy, Ferrari's home and a country where PMI's ties to the team run deepest. Alongside the livery, the two companies launched "The Power of a Second," an initiative built around the idea that a single second can decide a race, and, in PMI's telling, a consumer's choice.
In an interview published by Sports Illustrated on September 17, James Ryan, PMI's global head of category marketing for oral products, said the company needs to go beyond visibility and build experiences that are proprietary to the partnership. Ferrari deputy team principal Jerome D'Ambrosio pointed to shared values and the ability to embrace change as the reason the relationship has lasted.
PMI says roughly six million people worldwide have moved from cigarettes to ZYN and that the brand is sold in nearly 50 countries.
The Obvious Objection
Tobacco advertising has been banned from Formula 1 for two decades precisely because of the sport's reach with young audiences, and critics see a nicotine pouch on a Ferrari as the same playbook under a new logo. ZYN contains no tobacco leaf, which is why it slips past rules written for cigarettes, but it is still an addictive nicotine product.
Several countries where F1 races, including some in Europe, restrict or are moving to restrict nicotine pouch marketing, and the branding is described as appearing only at "selected" races, a phrase that reflects those legal limits as much as marketing strategy.
In the United States, ZYN's position is unusual: it is one of the few pouch brands with FDA marketing authorization, and 20 ZYN products carry an FDA-authorized modified-risk claim for use instead of cigarettes. That authorization covers specific products and a specific claim. It does not make ZYN safe, and it says nothing about Ferrari.
What It Means for Shoppers
For customers of A2Z Tobacco, which stocks the standard 3 mg and 6 mg ZYN nicotine pouches in flavors from Cool Mint to Coffee, plus the newer ZYN Ultra line, the Ferrari deal will not change what is in the can. What it signals is that PMI intends to keep treating ZYN as a global flagship rather than a U.S. niche, which means continued investment in supply, new formats and marketing.
Shoppers who dislike seeing nicotine brands in sports have a legitimate complaint. Shoppers who buy ZYN can expect the brand to remain widely available and heavily promoted for the foreseeable future, especially as the ZYN Launches 'When It Clicks' Campaign continues to roll out.
The Bottom Line
A pouch brand on a Ferrari is a small thing on the track and a large thing in tobacco marketing. It shows how far PMI has gone in moving its most valuable sponsorship from cigarettes to Tobacco-Free Nicotine Pouches & Alternatives, and how thin the line between "smoke-free" and "nicotine advertising" can look from the grandstands.