Carlos Sainz could help Williams earn £45m-a-year sponsorship deal when he leaves Ferrari

Follow us on Google Discover

Williams Racing will be looking forward to the arrival of Carlos Sainz next year after the recent upheaval in their driver line-up.

Team principal James Vowles was forced into a change after the Dutch Grand Prix following the consistent underperformance from Logan Sargeant across the 2024 campaign.

Franco Colapinto has stepped up from the Williams academy and did a very solid job on his debut at Monza.

A mistake in qualifying denied the Argentinian driver a place in Q2 but he drove very well in Sunday’s race to finish 12^th, bettering Valtteri Bottas’s best result of the season.

However, no matter how well Colapinto performs until the end of the season, he won’t be racing for Williams in 2025.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Williams Racing from team principal to Mercedes relationship

Carlos Sainz alongside Alex Albon is a formidable partnership and the Thai driver’s display during the Italian Grand Prix highlighted the steps forward the team have taken with their latest update package.

A report from Autosport suggests that Sainz may be bringing more than just his racing expertise to the team.

Ferrari announced during the latest race weekend that their sponsorship deal with Santander is coming to an end.

The multinational bank has been sponsoring F1 teams for years and could switch their attention to Williams from next season if they choose to follow Sainz to the Grove-based outfit.

Santander could follow Carlos Sainz from Ferrari to Williams in 2025

The report from Autosport confirms that Santander’s agreement with Ferrari will conclude at the end of 2024.

It’s worth a reported £45m-a-year [$60m] and the last contract was a renewal of an initial deal that began in 2010.

Santander made up a significant portion of Ferrari’s £190m-a-year sponsorship package but their replacement on the car – UniCredit – has already been announced.

The report goes on to say that ‘there is a chance’ that Santander will follow Sainz to Williams as they explore further opportunities in F1 and they could ‘feasibly back’ the Spaniard in the future.

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz’s life outside F1 from full name, girlfriend and height

A statement from the team announcing the end of their partnership read: “Ferrari announces the termination of the partnership between Ferrari S.p.A., its wholly-owned subsidiary, and Santander, effective as of December 31st, of 2024 since the committed three-year contract will end.

“The partnership, which began in January 2022 after a previous collaboration from 2010 to 2017, saw Santander alongside our Company in the sporting activities of the Prancing Horse. Santander has been Premium Partner of Scuderia Ferrari in Formula 1 and has been our partner in the Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) programme.”

Eddie Jordan already has high hopes for Williams in 2025

Sainz may still be getting his head around the fact that he almost certainly won’t be challenging for race wins and podiums next season.

However, there were signs of progress from Williams in Monza and Eddie Jordan is very excited about the Albon and Sainz combination next year.

Both drivers will aspire to challenge for more than just 9^th and 10^th place like Williams are this year.

Marc Priestley thinks Sargeant might have already harmed Williams’s 2025 chances but he’s not able to do any more damage to their prospects at this stage.

Vowles is promising big things from the team in the long term but with new regulations coming in 2026, Williams might be finding their feet with this ruleset just as they have to turn their attention to a brand-new car.