The Russian chemical company Uralkali filed suit in a Dutch court to seize assets from the Formula 1 team Haas over a failed payment required after a partnership between the two entities was ended.
Uralkali was the Haas title sponsor in 2022, when the American F1 team elected to cancel the sponsorship deal following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Russian company, which is also a fertilizer producer, had paid $13 million for the sponsorship.
During an arbitration hearing in June, a Swiss court determined Haas was within its rights to end the partnership, but the team had to refund as much as $9 million of the sponsorship funding it received.
Uralkali’s suit in a Dutch court came in advance of Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix. According to motorsport.com, Haas can race this weekend, but the team will not be able to remove its assets from the country, including its race cars, until an outstanding July payment has been made.
“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 said in a statement. “Haas … 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.”
According to Uralkali, there are no sanctions preventing the refund of sponsorship funds intended for use by Haas before the partnership was dissolved.
“We are delighted to hear that, following (the) visit from Dutch authorities, Haas is finally paying attention to the arbitral ruling,” Uralkali said in its own statement. “Uralkali wants nothing more than to receive what it was awarded during a fair judicial process and hopes that Haas will move quickly to rectify the situation so that all sides can move on.”
–Field Level Media
