Spanish bank agrees deal with Scuderia. We do the maths

Santander, a Spanish bank, is to end its association with McLaren and switch to Ferrari from the start of the 2009 season. German magazine Sport Bild claims that the deal is worth up to €25m per season.

Santander began sponsoring McLaren last year, coinciding with Fernando Alonso's contract to race with the team. But Alonso left the team after one unsatisfactory year, leaving Santander with a team but without a champion.
Not very interesting news, you might think. But the implication of the deal is very clear: Ferrari have agreed a deal with Alonso for 2009.

We're very confident that Alonso will leave Renault at the end of 2008 to become Kimi Raikkonen's team-mate in 2009 - the Finnish world champion announced this week that he will honour his contract and stay with Ferrari for at least one more season. What a strong driver line-up that would be.

The man to lose out is Felipe Massa, who is having his best ever season in F1, but who drive so badly at Silverstone on Sunday that his stock fell a long way. Massa won't find it difficult to get another seat - he could even replace Alonso at Renault.

We will probably have to wait until September's Italian GP at Monza - where Ferrari traditionally announces its driver line-up for the next season - for an official announcement.

But trust us - Alonso will be driving a red car in 2009, with Santander and Marlboro tipped to pick up his €30m retainer