By Razeen Gutta
The classic red and blue Red Bull colour scheme, which decorates both the energy drinks and the race cars and is known worldwide, came from South Africa.
It’s a continuation of a sponsorship revolution that actually began with South African cigarette company Gunston over five decades ago.
Max Verstappen’s Red Bull has certainly given wings to some consistent Formula 1 seasons of late, but where did the rise of branding truly begin in the racing world?
Team Gunston, who had never won a point at the World Championships, made an appearance at the 1967 Rhodesian Grand Prix that would be the start of a glorious era for the sponsorship side of F1.
When the F1 World Championship was formed in the 1950s, cars were decorated in the colours of the countries they represented, with sponsorship logos banned on cars.
All changed in the summer of ’67, though, when an orange and brown Brabham BT20 took the racing world by storm — not by its speed or technology, but by its colour.
Gunston were the inventors of the king-size cigarette filter; and when they had backed SAF1 drivers, John Love and Sam Tingle, it would paint a new picture for the company.
They may not have won anything, but when Team Gunston came ninth at the South African GP in 1968, other companies were watching.
Jim Clark of Team Lotus, who won a 1-2 in South Africa that year, soon turned out with a car branded in the red and gold of Gold Leaf Tobacco.
And that is how the revolution began. Soon enough, as television audiences grew, big companies from around the globe got in on the sponsorship model.
But Gunston rode their final race in 1975, and while they may not have tasted any Red Bull-like success, they will always be remembered as the pioneers of F1 sponsorship.
Pictured above: Team Gunston at the 1968 SA GP
Image source: Reddit
