Monday 13 Oktober at 09:02 : Oct.13 (GMM) After admitting mounting financial losses, the independent British F1 team Williams is now facing a fresh hit of bad news

One of its major sponsors, the Royal Bank of Scotland, is a high profile casualty of the current global financial crisis, as the British government prepares to bail it out

RBS chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin, meanwhile, is set to step down

The British bank is therefore expected to wind up its sports sponsorship programmes in the near future

A spokesman for RBS, which also sponsors European rugby, British golf, equestrian sports and tennis, would not comment on the future of those sponsorships

Williams' RBS contract, scheduled to run until 2010, is estimated at about $14m per season