Pitpass can confirm that McLaren will run in its current 'West' livery for the last time next Friday (July 29). A source at the Woking team has confirmed to Pitpass that McLaren will "run the West livery on the car on Friday (in Hungary) and that will be it".

The move has been prompted by the European ban on tobacco sponsorship which comes into effect on July 31st, and though the team could run in West livery on qualifying on Saturday, it has opted to drop the West signage a day early.

There is widespread speculation as to how other teams, and indeed the media, will react to the ban, with no definitive directive in place.

The issue is further clouded by the fact that in the UK, the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act comes into force. Essentially, this prohibits British teams from running tobacco sponsorship outside the European Union since their liveries would be broadcast back into the UK via television.

Speaking in Germany, Renault boss, Flavio Briatore, was in no doubt: "We are running tobacco," he said.

"We have no problem," he continued. "Japan Tobacco has been with us in the last 13 or 14 years and at the moment tobacco is allowed in Formula One and I'm happy to have them. It is not because of the fans, they are not interested in the colour of the car, they are interested in the performance of the car and seeing the race. I have never seen any e-mail in our office which refers to the tobacco livery we have on the car. The tobacco (companies) have done a lot for the sport, they have invested a lot of money in Formula One over many, many years and really I feel nothing, I feel good."

With so much confusion surrounding the issue, Briatore was asked if Renault had received official notification from the British Government.

"I don't know," he said. "It looks like everybody is expecting something. For the moment we are allowed to have the tobacco livery here and we will see what happens in the future, in the next few days.

"If we are forced not to use the tobacco (livery) we will not use it," he added. "It's as simple as that but we will see what happens with the letter we need to receive from the government and then we will see, in a few days, what will happen."