It has been announced that the Williams F1 team will split ways with main sponsor Martini at the end of the 2018 season.

Martini first came on board the Williams team in 2018 which saw a return of the famed red, white, and blue colour scheme to the world’s most elite racing series. While Williams were open to extending the sponsorship agreement the Bacardi Group, which owns the Martini brand, has stated their intention to withdraw all of their interest from Formula 1.

“We have discussed extending beyond 2018,” says Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams. “While we would both like to do so, the Bacardi Group have told us that they will step away entirely from Formula 1 when our contract expires at the end of this year. They have many brands to support and obviously their strategic priorities evolve over time.”

While Williams will have received a financial boost from Sergey Sirotkin’s SMP Racing sponsorship the loss of Martini will be a blow to the team.