Williams to announce new title sponsor

The deal, which is believed to be worth more than £25 million (GBP) per season, is a massive boost to the outfit who have found themselves struggling to compete with the financial might of the manufacturers.

Although the exact identity of the sponsor is being kept a closely guarded secret by Williams, it is understood that the new backer has been involved in F1 with other teams for several years.

As well as the title sponsorship deal, Williams are set to retain and strengthen their existing sponsorship deals.

CEO Chris Chapple said he was impressed that his team's commercial department had managed to secure the sponsorship coups at a time of increased competitiveness for finances in F1.

"All credit to our commercial team for pulling these deals off in a tricky commercial climate," he said.

"One of the attractions for any sponsor of Williams is that we still represent a pure engineering and racing philosophy to Formula One.

"We're not here simply to help market a core brand. This is what we do."