Williams already banking on Sainz success as Santander sponsorship announced

Carlos Sainz’s worth to Williams has already hit away from on-track actions with the workforce asserting a brand new Method 1 partnership with Santander.

Having completed second in his remaining race for Ferrari within the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday, Sainz was again out on monitor for a filming day with Williams on Monday – the Spaniard driving alongside Alex Albon subsequent 12 months after making method on the Scuderia for Lewis Hamilton.

Sainz was conscious early within the 12 months that his place at Ferrari had gone to the Briton and after deliberating over quite a few presents, he opted to signal for Williams – who on the time introduced he would race for the workforce “for 2025, 2026 and past.”

It’s a enormous coup for a squad that struggled in 2024, ending ninth within the constructors’ championship with simply 17 factors – however is a credit score to the way in which during which workforce principal James Vowles is making an attempt to change Williams’ fortunes.

Whereas he took to the circuit on Monday, Sainz’s arrival in Grove additionally earmarked an enormous multi-year partnership between Williams and Santander, who be a part of Sainz in transferring throughout from Ferrari.

“We’re delighted to associate with Williams Racing with a tactical settlement that permits us to maintain providing unique experiences to our prospects and proceed to help Carlos Sainz in his new stage,” mentioned Juan Manuel Cendoya, Santander’s international head of communications, company advertising and marketing and analysis.

“This is among the most historic groups with the best legacy in F1 and enhances our function because the official retail banking associate of the competitors with a give attention to our essential markets.”

Sainz will race the Williams subsequent 12 months [Colapinto pictured]

Photograph by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Photos

Santander branding shall be displayed on the Williams for the primary time in the course of the end-of-season check on the Yas Marina Circuit as Vowles welcomed the high-profile addition.

“Williams Racing is proud so as to add Santander to our rising roster of iconic and revolutionary companions for 2025 and past,” he mentioned.

“Becoming a member of forces with a worldwide banking large trusted by tens of thousands and thousands of individuals world wide is one other vital step in our transformation and we stay up for working with Santander to interact and excite followers within the years forward.”

Whereas Santander opted to go away Ferrari, the Spanish bank will become an official partner of F1 itself from next season.

It was additionally confirmed within the press launch asserting the brand new partnership that “the financial institution’s logos will function on trackside signage at various Grand Prix throughout the season going down in Santander’s essential markets: within the US, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, and within the UK, amongst others.”

Sainz will run for Williams within the end-of-season check alongside Luke Browning, the 2023 Macau Grand Prix winner having additionally stepped in for FP1 initially of the Abu Dhabi weekend.

Having loved a powerful remaining season with Ferrari, Sainz revealed after Sunday’s grand prix that he was already planning find out how to enhance his new workforce whereas nonetheless racing.

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

Photograph by: Ferrari

Requested if it was laborious to maneuver on so rapidly, Sainz replied: “Being very trustworthy with you, I do not assume so. I feel, I am not going to lie, my final laps, as a lot as I used to be pushing like hell for this workforce and attempting to, I used to be already beginning to really feel issues within the automotive and attempting to say, ‘bear in mind how this feels’.

“As a result of tomorrow [Monday] and Tuesday I would like to recollect, why is that this automotive fast on this nook and why does it really feel good?

“As a result of I do know in all probability what I’ll discover tomorrow, and Tuesday wants some margin of enchancment within the corners that I used to be feeling the automotive. So this simply sums up that I am already trying additionally forward.

“I am extraordinarily motivated for the problem that I’ve forward of me.”