Recently – and indeed belatedly – there was a big fuss about the barcode on Ferrari‘s Formula 1 car, and whether it was effectively Marlboro branding, and thus tobacco advertising – which is banned. Ferrari denied it, but removed it nonetheless.

Their argument was undermined by the Ducati MotoGP team – which too has Marlboro as a title sponsor – using the exact same barcode on their bikes. When I wrote about it all a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to see whether Ducati too drop the barcode. This weekend at Le Mans we found out, and they have.

From the MotoGP website, here are handy before and after shots of Nicky Hayden’s bike, from last time out at Jerez, and this weekend at Le Mans.

The bar code is gone. Not from the team’s clothing, but certainly from the bike.

Someone – with a bit more weight than I – should put this to Philip Morris, Marlboro’s parent company. If the barcode was so innocent, and Ferrari added and removed it of their own accord, then why was it also on the Ducati, and why was it removed? It would appear that there might be a case to answer.