Winfield (cigarette)

Jacques Villeneuve in the Williams FW20 at the 1998 Italian Grand Prix

Winfield was the main sponsor of the Williams F1 Team in 1998 and 1999, when Rothmans International opted to promote their Winfield brand, replacing the popular blue and white livery with a red one.[13][14][15] In 1998, the team won no races and took only 3 podiums during the season, with Frentzen finishing in third at the first round in Australia and Villeneuve finishing third in Germany and Hungary. Williams finished third in the Constructors' Championship, scoring 38 points, while Villeneuve finished fifth in the Drivers' Championship with 21 points and his German teammate, Frentzen, finished 4 points behind him in seventh. In 1999, the team managed to get three podiums, all scored by Ralf Schumacher, with third place in the Australia and the Britain and a second place in Italy. The team finished fifth in the Constructors' Championship, the lowest finish for Williams in the 1990s; the team finished behind Stewart and Jordan, scoring a total of 35 points. Of those points, all were scored by Schumacher as Zanardi, who had not performed well in his previous stint in F1, failed to finish in the top six in any race. In 2000, Rothmans International had been purchased in 1999 by British American Tobacco, which owned British American Racing and chose not to renew the contract with Williams, ending the sponsorship of Winfield and earlier with Rothmans on the Williams cars.

Gibson Motorsport Holden Commodore VP of Mark Skaife at Lakeside International Raceway in April 1994

From 1992 until 1995, Winfield was title sponsor of Australian motor racing team Gibson Motorsport. Highlights included Mark Skaife winning two Australian Touring Car Championships in 1992 and 1994, as well as the Australian Drivers' Championship in 1992 and 1993. Skaife and Jim Richards also won the 1992 Bathurst 1000.[16][17]

From the 1970s until 1995, Winfield sponsored a number of high-profile teams in Speedway and Drag racing.

Winfield also sponsored the Honda Team in the Australian Superbike Championship from 1986 until 1995. Malcolm Campbell won the 1986, 1989 and 1990 editions in the Winfield-sponsored Honda VFR750F and Honda VFR750R bikes. and later Troy Corser and Anthony Gobert would also win the 1994 and 1995 editions with their Honda RC30 and Honda RC45 bikes.[18] After the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992 was passed, Winfield no longer sponsored the team.

Winfield also sponsored the regular Superbike World Championship in 1994 and 1995,[19][20] as well as the annual Triple Challenge at Eastern Creek each January between 1992 and 1995.

From 1982 until 1995, it was title sponsor of the New South Wales Rugby League premiership with the winner of the grand final receiving the Winfield Cup. It also sponsored both test and club/franchise international rugby union in South Africa from 1995 until 1999 when tobacco advertising was prohibited there.

In 2011, it was reported that various fake Winfield cigarettes were smuggled into Australia and were sold onto the black market.

Independent tests were carried out on a pack of Winfield Blues from both a real version and an illegal copy made in Asia and smuggled into Australia to be sold on the black market. The real Winfield Blues weighed 0.58g, whereas the fakes weighed 0.66g. The real ones lost 87 per cent of their weight when smoked, while the fakes lost only 84 per cent. The tests - performed by chemist firm Sharp and Howells and commissioned by The Daily Telegraph - appear to rubbish claims that fake cigarettes are significantly different or more dangerous than the real product. "The fake Winfield Blues come up higher." Sharp and Howells laboratory manager John Franceschini said. "The genuine Winfield Blues and the fake Intershop ones were quite similar."

A spokesman for British American Tobacco Australia, the maker of Winfield, said the tests were not exhaustive enough to determine true quality, although he acknowledged there was no such thing as a safe cigarette. "At the end of the day, smoking is harmful regardless of whether it's legal or illegal." the BATA spokesman said. "The issue with illegal tobacco is that 100 per cent of the profits go to the pockets of criminals while 70 per cent of the legal product sale goes to taxpayers through tobacco excise and tax."[21][22][23]