Health campaigners have welcomed news that a Formula One motor racing team will be sponsored for the first time by a company which helps people to quit smoking.

The BMW WilliamsF1 team, based at Grove, near Wantage, is to be sponsored by NiQuitin CQ, a range of nicotine patches and lozenges made by drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline.

The deal begins at this weekend's San Marino Grand Prix in Imola and marks a significant departure for a sport that had relied heavily on revenue from tobacco advertising.

Team principal Sir Frank Williams said: "With the impending ban for tobacco sponsorships looming, it is highly appropriate that a leading smoking cessation product is taking its place.

"This deal confirms that there is a future for Formula One after tobacco sponsorship."

The news was welcomed by Oxford-based Cancer Research UK chief executive Sir Paul Nurse, who said: "Smoking has a massive negative impact on the health of our nation. This landmark deal will highlight that there is help available for people who want to quit smoking."

Simon Pulsford, general manager and vice-president of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare UK, said: "We want to make giving up smoking more aspirational and the BMW WilliamsF1 team provides a perfect means to that end." Formula One tracks have traditionally been festooned with cigarette advertising, despite other sports being banned from tobacco advertising.

Formula One was excluded from the legislation because it relied on sponsorship, but the Government wants to end its exemption from 2006.

Motor racing suffered adverse publicity when the Labour Party was forced to return a £1m political donation from Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone in 1997.

Prime Minister Tony Blair had met Mr Ecclestone and other leading figures from the sport at Downing Street before announcing that Formula One would be exempt from the ban on tobacco advertising.