Ferrari and Santander to Confirm Deal on Thursday

After taking their first win of the season two weekends ago, Ferrari are set to pull another rabbit out of their hat ahead of the Italian Grand Prix. Apparently, the Maranello based team are to announce a multi-year agreement with Spanish banking group Grupo Santander on Thursday, during a press conference.

Ferrari's CEO Luca di Montezemolo and Santander's president Emilio Botin will presumably be present at the aforementioned press conference.

Santander will therefore end their sponsorship contract with McLaren, which started back in 2007. The Spanish group's relationship with the Woking based team started at the same time with Fernando Alonso's move from Renault to McLaren at the end of 2006. Having a Spanish driver – and world champion, by the way – take their name to the podium race in and race out was quite appealing for Santander at the time.

However, the Spaniard parted ways with Ron Dennis' outfit at the end of 2007, while Santander was forced to commit to their initial agreement with McLaren. As extending their deal was certainly not an option now that Alonso was gone, Botin waited for the contract to run out in order to re-join Alonso later on.

And that's where the speculation started regarding Alonso's move to Ferrari. Although both Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen have ongoing contracts with Ferrari until the end of 2010, it is believed Santander are willing to pay off the Finnish driver in order to hurry Alonso's move to Maranello.

Although several rumors led to the conclusion that Ferrari are to make an official announcement regarding their 2010 lineup at Monza, there are little chances Alonso will be confirmed at Ferrari during the course of this week.