By Alan Baldwin

LONDON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Moet & Chandon was confirmed as Formula One's official champagne provider on Wednesday with French fizz returning to the podium after four years of drivers celebrating by spraying Italian sparkling wine.

The brand, which previously partnered Formula One from 1966 to 2000, will also become title sponsor of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps in July.

French luxury giant LVMH has a 10-year sponsorship deal, announced last October, with Liberty Media-owned Formula One, which covers the Louis Vuitton, Moet Hennessy and TAG Heuer brands.

Tag Heuer has replaced Rolex as official timekeeper while Louis Vuitton is a partner of the sport and title sponsor of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in March.

Formula One is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the championship this year.

Moet & Chandon has replaced Ferrari Trento, the Italian winemaker which was the 'official toast of Formula One' since 2021.

Motorsport's champagne tradition started at Le Mans in 1966 when Swiss driver Jo Siffert accidentally sprayed spectators after the cork shot out of a bottle that had been warmed by the sunshine.

American winner Dan Gurney recreated the moment a year later and deliberately shook the bottle.

In Formula One, a bottle of Moet was awarded to race winner Juan Manuel Fangio after the 1950 French Grand Prix held at Reims, a circuit near one of the centres of the champagne region.

Triple world champion Jackie Stewart first sprayed champagne on the F1 podium, again by accident, after the Briton won the 1969 French Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand.

"Nobody told me the bottle had been left lying in the sun and so, as I released the cork, the champagne foamed out," he wrote years later.

"I thought it would be a shame to waste any, so I pressed my thumb over the top but this only increased the pressure and produced a powerful jet of champagne.

"Everyone was enjoying the spectacle and so, thinking I might as well have some fun, I started spinning around, spraying the champagne in all directions... and so an F1 tradition was born."

Rose water is used for podium celebrations at races held in the Middle East.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Christian Radnedge)

((alan.baldwin@thomsonreuters.com; +442075427933;))