rickoblue - 06 November 2009 04:50 PM

I think he means Santander is paying Alonso's salary to drive for Ferrari.

Exactly. From Ferrari's point of view, Alonso doesn't cost them anything. So the cost to Ferrari is the same whether Kimi or Alonso drives.

And since Banco Santander is essentially paying Alonso's salary, I continue to wonder if Mercedes will step in at the end of all this and pay Räikkönen's - if not at McLaren, then at Brawn.

Let us say that the current theory has some weight to it.

If it were to be, that means that in order to get the Santander sponsorship money, Ferrari agreed to take on Mr. Alonso, and retain the services of Mr. Massa, for the 2010 Season.

This Santander Company must have really deep pockets, to get Ferrari to commit to that scenario.

Is it possible that the two drivers, as a combination, may give Ferrari a Constructors Championship in 2010.

If they do not believe that to be true, why sign the deal?

More fuel for this theory... Santander, is of course a Spanish HQ'd bank (a very large and successful one, at that). They have global ambitions and have been investing heavily in Latin America for a while. Their Brazilian unit is so large and successful that they just spun it off in a separate IPO.

So they believe that these two Drivers, and the Formula One exposure, will give them an increased potential market share in Latin America.

Is this a gamble of epic proportions?

It tingles just thinking about it.

We are not talking about a little dirty town credit union here. Santander is a multi-billion Euro corporation.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/banco-santander-reports-flat-3rd-quarter-net-2009-10-28

I would not be surprised if since the Alonso-Ferrari switch news, there have been enough accounts/loans open in Spain to pay all Raikkonen, Alonso and Ferrari wages.

I sure hope that they are getting thousand of account with thousands of transactions. But I'm not opening an account with anyone just based on a F1 driver. I wonder how many people are that insane/loyal to the sport.

Never intended to reflect on the Santander Corporation as a little dirty town credit union. ( What is that anyways? )

Wait until all those people find out where a portion of all their hard earned money is going.

All I was asking, is the risk worth the return?

In the past two years, a fair amount of American Financial Institutions have been demised by making poor investment decisions.

Is this move by the Santander Corporation an equally bad investment strategy?

I still tingle.

Time will tell.

I don't know about this particular investment, but Santander has done quite well to date -- one of the few to steer clear of the recent messes, and cleaned up by adding buying some attractive assets at cheap prices. Very savvy guys.

Like with everything else in life, sometimes you miss the braking point and go wide in the corner.