Haas has settled its ongoing sponsorship dispute with Uralkali after the team’s former title sponsor made a bid through Dutch Courts to seize the American Formula 1 team’s assets.
The Russian fertiliser company, owned by Dimitry Mazepin, became the team’s sponsor in 2021, in conjunction with Mazepin’s son, Nikita, becoming a full-time driver, but that all came to an abrupt end on the eve of the 2022 season following the Ukraine invasion.
However, there was the small matter of $13m in sponsorship money that had to be settled and after a long-standing legal dispute, Uralkali sought remuneration via Swiss Arbitration Courts for the outstanding balance.
The court ruled that Haas possessed the right to terminate the title agreement, but noted that while Haas had the right to retain a “portion of the sponsorship fee”, the American squad was directed to return the outstanding balance past March 4, 2022.
Last month, Uralkakli claimed Haas missed its deadline for repayment and on Thursday set about claiming Haas assets as compensation.
Dutch police and bailiffs visited Haas at Zandvoort on Thursday in order to speed up the process, and allowed the team to participate in this weekend’s race, but rued if payment wasn’t forthcoming by Monday, cars and equipment couldn’t leave the country.
This represented a serious problem for Haas with the Dutch GP at Zandvoort forming a back-to-back with next weekend’s Italian GP at Monza.
However, eponymous Team Owner Gene Haas has stated the payment was made on Friday morning, with the transaction going through the Middle East to navigate the economic sanctions put upon Russia.
On Friday, a team statement read: “Haas fully intends to pay to Uralkali all amounts due pursuant to the arbitration award, and there is no dispute over the amounts owed.
“Haas has been working with its lawyers to ensure payment will comply with all relevant US, EU, UK and Swiss sanctions and regulations.
“We will continue working with Uralkali in the coming days to resolve this matter definitively.”
Hopefully, for all concerned, this messy sponsor saga is finally at an end.
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