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Haas F1 Team are still unable to leave Zandvoort after the Dutch Grand Prix, with payments yet to be processed.
Former sponsors Uralkali paid Haas for a season-long sponsorship deal for the 2022 Formula 1 season, but the deal fell through after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine early the same year.
Uralkali is partly owned by Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin, who as part of his funding of Haas enabled his son Nikita to land a full-time seat with the American team. Due to the association of Uralkali with Russia’s invasion, the sponsorship deal was ended early with all associated branding stripped from Haas’ VF-22 car.
However, since Uralkali had paid for the entire season in advance, they have sought the repayment of the sponsorship money ever since. Finally, in June of this year, a Swiss arbitration court hearing ruled that Haas would have to pay Uralkali back around $9 million of the $13 million sponsorship balance.
Dutch law enforcement entered the Haas garages at the Dutch Grand Prix on Thursday, taking inventory of the outfit’s assets should they be needed to settle the outstanding balance.
Haas subsequently released a statement expressing their intent to pay off their debts, with no dispute over the amount owed. Team Principal Ayao Komatsu also chimed in about the situation, stating: “We are fully focused on making it across as soon as possible.”
According to Autosport, payment was made by Haas on Friday, but Uralkali have now claimed that they haven’t received any money over two days later.
Logistical problems
Despite team owner Gene Haas saying on Sunday afternoon that “everything is now sorted”, Uralkali haven’t seen the money arrive in their bank accounts. It is understood that this may be related to weekend transactions taking longer than usual to be completed.
Furthermore, the funds are due to be deposited into a Middle Eastern account affiliated with Uralkali as Haas wanted to be sure to “comply with all relevant US, EU, UK and Swiss sanctions and regulations”, as their statement on Friday reads.
Uralkali are nevertheless unsatisfied with this reasoning, and don’t accept payment to come through until at least Monday when banks become significantly more active. Therefore, Haas will likely remain stuck in the Zandvoort garage overnight, which may cause issues in preparing for the Italian Grand Prix next weekend.
Haas endured a difficult Dutch Grand Prix, as both Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen finished outside the points-scoring positions. They will be hoping to bounce back in Italy, with the race commencing Sunday 1 September at 14:00 BST (15:00 local time).
Feature Image Credit: @HaasF1Team on X