Ferrari has confirmed Italian banking firm UniCredit as a partner from the 2025 Formula 1 season onwards.
Just days after it was announced Santander and Ferrari would end their three-year association when their current agreement expires at the end of the year, it was announced UniCredit will then be on board.
“Ferrari announces that, effective January 1, 2025, UniCredit S.p.A. will partner with Ferrari S.p.A., its wholly-owned subsidiary, to be at its side in its Formula 1 racing activities under a multi-year agreement,” a short statement issued on Monday morning read.
With headquarters in Milan, it has yet to be confirmed what sort of sponsorship is in place but it could be that UniCredit comes in as a straight replacement for the departing Santander, whose logo was carried on Ferrari’s cars, race suits and caps.
UniCredit has previously sponsored tennis tournaments and the UEFA Champions League and will now enter the world of F1.
Santander’s departure from the team’s partnership portfolio was announced over the weekend of the Italian Grand Prix, won by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Their three-year deal was agreed in 2021, renewing a partnership that had initially run from 2010 to 2017.
Last season’s F1 sponsorship revenue for Ferrari totalled an estimated figure just under the $250 million mark – of which Spanish bank Santander was the largest contributor.
Having previously also sponsored McLaren in the past, Santander said it will now look for new partners.
Santander's global head of communications, corporate marketing and research Juan Manuel Cendoya said: “We are extremely grateful to Ferrari for their partnership over the past three years.
“Sponsorships play an important role in engaging with clients and reinforcing our brand and we will continue to work with a range of partners in the years ahead.”
While Cendoya stopped short of confirming if those new partnership opportunities lay in F1, there is a chance that it could follow Spanish driver Carlos Sainz from Ferrari to Williams.
Sainz will be replaced by Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari next season and recently signed a two-year contract with Williams.
The timing of the expiration of Santander’s three-year agreement with the prancing horse means it could feasibly back the Spanish driver and his new squad.
