Although Marlboro had long been a sponsor of Ferrari, the American tobacco company had previously enjoyed a seventeen-year relationship as primary sponsor to the McLaren team.

Then in 1997, a year after Maranello recruited Michael Schumacher Marlboro switched its allegiance to the Italian outfit while McLaren went West.

While watching the excellent 'Secret Life of F1' on the Discovery Channel recently it occurred to the pitpass team how many 'primary' sponsors F1™ has lost in recent years.

In 1993 Prost's championship winning Williams FW15 was adorned by decals from Canon, Camel (tobacco) and Sega. The Benetton too carried Camel decals while the Lotus carried the green of Castrol and the red of Hitachi. The colours of the South African oil company Sasol and Barclay (tobacco) adorned the Jordan while Larrousse had sponsorship from Central Park and the European chain of steak eateries Charro.

The Lola wore Chesterfield (tobacco) signage while Minardi was sponsored by a host of companies including tool manufacturer Beta and footwear manufacturer Valleverde. Ligier were sponsored by tobacco company Gitanes while Ferrari, which carried Marlboro signage also bore branding for Agip and Pioneer. The beautiful black Saubers carried the logos of Lighthouse, a magazine, Liqui Moly and of course those 'concept by Mercedes-Benz' decals. The Footwork (Arrows) outfit secured backing from Toshiba once the season was underway.

Ten years later and not only have many of these sponsors turned their backs on F1™, many simply couldn't afford to continue sponsoring F1™ teams. As costs have risen, so too have the financial demands from the teams, forcing many sponsors out of F1™ and frightening off 'new comers'.

The Internet bubble burst so the new media companies that were expected to replace the tobacco giants found themselves with more on their minds than F1™ sponsorship.

Although costs have spiralled in recent years, it's understood that teams are now offering ever-improved packages to new sponsors in the hope of parting them from their money. Sponsorship packages being offered by some F1™ teams are down by as much as a third.

"Three years ago, being a title sponsor for a middle-ranking team would have set you back around £7 million for one season," an anonymous former sponsor told The Times. "That fee has since collapsed to between £4 million and £5 million."

"The very basic entry level to get in the Formula One™ team door was around £500,000 three years ago," the former sponsor continues. "Now, you can take at least a third off that."

We remember a few years back when the esteemed motorsport writer, and cat lover, Nigel Roebuck reported that a company had approached a number of F1™ and CART teams offering a £1m sponsorship package. According to Nigel, the CART teams wined and dined the potential sponsor and presented a number of options while the F1™ teams chose not to respond.

We wonder how they'd react in the current financial climate.

According to The Times, the costs for a primary sponsorship package for a middle of the grid team have now fallen from £7m in 2000 to £4m in 2003. This package would ensure signage on the front and rear wings and sidepods.

The cost of decals on the car's wing mirrors has fallen from £750,000 to £500,000 while space on a driver's helmet can now be bought for as little as £500,000 compare to £1m in 2000.

A number of sponsors have pulled out ahead of the coming season, it remains to be seen whether 'cut price' offers will attract 'new money'.