Despite his denials, rumours continue to link double Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso with a move to Ferrari in 2009 – with new suggestions that a major sponsor switch will help to seal the deal.

According to German magazine Sport Bild, key McLaren-Mercedes sponsor Santander is set to ink a €25 million-per-season agreement to switch allegiances to Ferrari from next year, taking Alonso with it.

The Spanish bank joined forces with McLaren when Alonso did likewise back at the start of 2007, but after the man from Oviedo jumped ship just one year into his three-year contract with the Woking-based concern at the end of last season, it seems Santander is looking to follow suit.

Sport Bild claims the Santander-Ferrari-Alonso deal includes the sponsor's lettering on the drivers' overalls and front and rear wing signage, as well as a €30 million-per-year contribution to the 19-time grand prix winner's retainer. Santander boss Emilio Botin was present at last weekend's British Grand Prix.

Alonso told reporters at Silverstone that he will wait as late as September before announcing where he will be driving in 2009, whilst, coincidentally or not, F1SA points out that Ferrari traditionally reveals its line-up at the Italian Grand Prix, taking place on 14 September this year.

Spanish newspaper Diario AS has speculated that the 26-year-old's team-mate at the Scuderia would be defending F1 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen, in the wake of Felipe Massa's disastrous showing at Silverstone.

“I don't know if the rumours are true,” Ferrari test driver and Alonso's countryman Marc Gené told sport.es, “but I don't see there would be a problem having Kimi with Alonso, or Felipe with Alonso, or staying with what we have now.”

Meanwhile, Alonso has insisted he is no longer worried about finishing up on the podium in 2008, after the opening nine grands prix of the current campaign have yielded not so much as a single rostrum finish for Renault.

He has admitted that he has resigned himself to the Régie's current midfield position – sitting just seventh in the constructors' title chase, behind Toyota, Red Bull Racing and Williams and barely ahead of Honda – adding that the odd podium here or there would likely only come about through 'luck' and claiming he took greater satisfaction from being 'one of the few' drivers to not commit any notable errors during the rain-lashed British Grand Prix.