The Swiss arbitration court has ruled in Haas’ favour over a court dispute involving the Formula 1 team’s decision to end a title sponsorship deal with Uralkali in 2022.
Uralkali, a fertiliser producer which Dimitry Mazepin owns, became the American outfit’s title sponsor in 2021 owing to Nikita Mazepin’s promotion to a full-time drive.
Uralkali was attempting to salvage a return on the $13 million sponsorship fee that Haas received to cover the entire 2022 season but wouldn’t even last a single race.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted Haas to oust Mazepin from its 2022 driver line-up and conclude the team’s title partnership with Uralkali with immediate effect.
Uralkali argued it had provided “most of the sponsorship funding for the 2022 season” and the termination ensured Haas “failed to perform its obligations” to Uralkali.
The matter would be escalated to a legal contest as both parties were in disagreement, with Uralkali announcing earlier this week that Haas had violated the contract.
“The tribunal found that Haas was in violation of the contract and obliged the team to pay compensation to Uralkali”, a statement read.
“The tribunal also rejected all of the team’s counterclaims towards the company.”
However, Haas posted its own response during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, where it revealed the arbitration court ruled it had “cause” to discontinue the deal.
“The arbitration panel ruled Haas had ‘just cause’ to terminate its sponsorship contract with Uralkali, and denied Uralkali’s claim for breach of contract,” Haas stated.
“The arbitration panel ruled that, in light of all the facts relating to the parties’ relationship, including Uralkali’s association with Russia, Haas ‘could not be expected to continue the Sponsorship Agreement under such circumstances’, and concluded that “the Arbitral Tribunal finds that Haas had a just cause to terminate the Sponsorship Agreement’.
“The panel emphasised that multiple other sports organizations severed their ties with Russian companies immediately after the invasion of Ukraine, and thus there was a risk ‘that Haas could rapidly be the last non-Russian sport team continuing with a Russian name sponsor.’
“Accordingly, the panel ruled that the sponsorship was effectively terminated on the date of Haas’s notice of termination, and ordered that Haas retain the portion of the sponsorship fee for the period before the termination, and refund any balance to Uralkali.”
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