Just when you thought it couldn't possibly get worse...

[East Londoner]

...they've now lost their title sponsor. I'm now having serious concerns about the future of Williams

[eurobrun]

Williams are about to suffer the same fate as Lotus

[FullMetalJack]

Williams are goners

[S951]

pretty sure they/ve got qnb and qtel coming on board

[AndreaModa]

I wouldn't be too pessimistic just yet. Sauber have done just fine since the departure of Petronas when BMW packed it all in. Whilst they are getting a sizeable contribution from various companies in Mexico, they have no title sponsor. Williams still have Randstad, along with a number of smaller sponsors, as well as the PDVSA money. Now if Pastor's deal was to go awry too, then I'd agree that they'd be in a bit of trouble. As it is though, they're talking to various other potential sponsors which will fill the shortfall.

The one time when you should finally stop believing is when Williams finally shuts its doors for good, and there's no chance of that happening any time soon.

[Captain Hammer]

...they've now lost their title sponsor. I'm now having serious concerns about the future of Williams

This appears to have been a planned event. I can find no evidence at all that AT&T terminated their title sponsorship without warning. Furthermore, Williams' claim that they are in "advanced negoations" with another company suggests that they have been aware of this change for some time. We just haven't heard anyhting about it until now, what with all the speculation over their second driver and the failed attempt to get Kimi Raikkonen on-board.

[Ferrim]

I'm certain I read something about this on Twitter before last year ended.

[Stramala]

The only reason this is surprising to some people is because the press only just reported on it. If a sponsorship deal ends on 1st January, it is most definitely due to expiry of contract. Williams will have been searching for a replacement for months and months already. The big problem is actually finding a company to part with huge sums of cash in this financial climate, to one of the worst teams on the grid no less. They're a Mercedes-sized outfit with Minardi results, that just isn't financially sustainable unless some moron wants to hopelessly plough cash into the team whilst expecting zero return.

[mario]

...they've now lost their title sponsor. I'm now having serious concerns about the future of Williams

This appears to have been a planned event. I can find no evidence at all that AT&T terminated their title sponsorship without warning. Furthermore, Williams' claim that they are in "advanced negoations" with another company suggests that they have been aware of this change for some time. We just haven't heard anyhting about it until now, what with all the speculation over their second driver and the failed attempt to get Kimi Raikkonen on-board.

Planned, and hardly out of the blue either considering that for the past few weeks Williams had been steadily removing all references to AT&T from their website. The latest rumours at the moment are that Williams are currently in negotiations with the Qnet, a Qatari telecommunications organisation, which would fit in with the recent efforts Williams have made to court the Qatari government and its investment arm.