At the 1968 South African Grand Prix, Team Gunston became the first entry to run a commercial sponsor livery in a World Championship Formula 1 race. It marked the beginning of a commercial shift that would transform the sport’s look, economics and identity.
Formula 1 crossed an important line on 1 January 1968, and it did so far from Europe’s usual centres of power.
At Kyalami, South Africa’s Team Gunston entered John Love in a Brabham wearing the colours of Gunston cigarettes, becoming the first team to use a full commercial sponsor livery in a World Championship race.
That may sound routine now, but at the time it was a genuine break with tradition.
For years, Formula 1 cars had largely followed national racing colours.
British cars were green, Italian cars red, French cars blue. Team identity was tied to heritage and nationality far more than to branding.
Team Gunston changed that visual language in a single weekend.
The significance was much larger than one paint scheme. Sponsorship had existed in motor racing in different forms, but this was the moment commercial colour and brand identity moved onto the bodywork of an F1 car in a championship event.
It pointed directly toward the business model that would define the modern sport, where sponsors would shape not just budgets, but also how teams were recognised around the world.
There was also an irony in the timing. Team Gunston was a private entrant, not an established factory giant. Yet it was this smaller South African operation that made one of the most influential commercial moves in F1 history.
Lotus would soon follow with Gold Leaf colours, but Gunston got there first.
