Santander ends Ferrari, F1 sponsorship for Champions League focus

Santander has called time on its sponsorship deal with Ferrari in Formula 1 to concentrate its efforts on football’s Champions League.

Having been involved with F1 sponsorship for 11 years, joining Ferrari in 2010 coupled with the arrival of Spanish driver Fernando Alonso, the Spanish bank will end its partnerships in the sport this year to focus on other existing sponsorship deals including the Champions League

“At the end of this year, Santander will conclude its successful sponsorship of the Formula One racing team, Scuderia Ferrari, which it has supported for the last eight seasons,” a statement from Santander said.

“The bank will also conclude its corporate sponsorship agreements with F1 which have helped increase Santander’s brand recognition around the world over the last 11 years.”

The announcement sees Ferrari lose a major sponsor for 2018 despite improving its recent results with an F1 world title challenge which eventually fell short as it finished runner-up to Mercedes in the World Constructors’ championship and Sebastian Vettel ended the season second to Lewis Hamilton.

Santander followed Alonso by switching from McLaren to Ferrari in 2010 having initially arrived at the Woking-based squad during the two-time F1 world champion’s ill-fated maiden year at the team in 2007. Ferrari is yet to confirm whether a new sponsor will be installed to replace Santander with its logo featuring on the rear wing of the Italian squad's car this season.

On the same day Ferrari's parent company FCA Group announced a title sponsor and technical deal for Alfa Romeo with Sauber for 2018.