Appropriately at the Belgian GP, a race that was omitted from the F1 calendar in 2003 due to the political situation surrounding the tobacco issue, the WilliamsF1 cars are wearing prominent anti-tobacco signage.

The team, which is sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline, which manufactures nicotine patches, was running with large 'Tobacco Free' decals today.

As F1 prepares for the inevitable withdrawal of the tobacco companies - the European Union is banning tobacco advertising from the middle of next year - WilliamsF1 was sending out a clear message both to race fans and to its rival teams, several of which still rely heavily on tobacco sponsorship.

"It isn't a personal crusade," said team boss Frank Williams, "but as a company and as a team we are very happy to be representing this particular message."

WilliamsF1 has also run with tobacco sponsorship in the past, with Rothmans and subsequently Winfield.

"The other teams now are facing an abrupt, shuddering shock," Williams continued, "and now they have to go out and find real money. It will certainly weaken their financial structure and we hope they will have less money to spend on a year-by-year basis. The difference between a cigarette company and a non-cigarette company is probably 25 to 30 percent weighting in favour of tobacco in terms of sponsorship."

The tobacco issue in F1 has been somewhat overlooked in recent times, but it has not gone away. As the 2006 worldwide ban looms, the sport is going to have to come to terms with the reality, that public opinion is very much anti tobacco sponsorship, especially of a sport that is generally perceived as glamorous.

"The writing is on the wall," said Williams. "The dates have been set. It has been good to Formula One but the world is changing and we hope we are slightly ahead of it. We saw the link between tobacco and Formula One was going to be finite, it was time to get away."