Former Haas title sponsor, Uralkali, has made a bid to Dutch courts in an attempt to seize the team’s assets – including car and other equipment – over an outstanding payment that has been overdue for a while from the F1 team.
The Russian fertilizer company, owned by Dimitry Mazepin, became the team’s sponsor in 2021 with Mazepin’s son, Nikita, becoming a full-time driver in the team.
Through the breakout of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Haas made the decision to withdraw its agreement, as well as replacing Mazepin with Kevin Magnussen.
This was because Nikita and his father, Dmitry, were sanctioned by an EU ruling for their association with Vladimir Putin.
Let’s Go To Court
In June 2024, a Swiss arbitration court ruled that the F1 team should refund Uralkali part of its sponsorship payment made for 2022, before the title deal was cancelled in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Although the court stated that Haas was “within its rights” to terminate the deal, it said that the American team could only keep a portion of the 13 million sponsorship balance paid for the campaign.
The payment that Haas has yet to give to the Russian company is believed to be around 9 million which was the remainder of the sponsorship payment that went beyond March 2022.
Missed Deadline
Following Uralkali’s claims last month that Haas had missed the July payment deadline for the refund, it is understood that the Russian company decided to escalate the matter with courts in Holland this week.
They [Uralkali] asked for Haas’s assets at the Dutch Grand Prix to be seized – with a provisional ruling being given in its favour.
As a result, bailiffs and police visited the Haas team at Zandvoort on Thursday night to push forward with the matter and evaluate the team’s assets.
Haas Reacts
A statement issued by Haas made clear that it was now working with Uralkali to finalize the transfer of the funds, stating it had to be sure that “any payments fully complied with sanctions that have been imposed on various Russian companies.”
Nikita Mazepin was taken off the European Union's Russia sanctioned persons list earlier this year, while Mazepin Sr remains in that status.
“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.”
Excuses Don’t Work On Us
Uralkali issued its own statement on Friday, welcoming the fact that Haas was working on sorting out the payment – but said it did not view the sanctions issue as a justifiable reason for the delay.
“We are delighted to hear that, following last night’s visit from Dutch authorities, Haas is finally paying attention to the arbitral ruling. 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."
No Monza for Haas
The team has been working on getting it through on Friday and while the matter dragging on beyond Monday would risk completely jeopardizing Haas's Monza participation, Haas is confident it will not come to this.
It is also understood that Uralkali is not pursuing the Haas F1 cars being impounded mid-event at Zandvoort, so the team's participation in the Dutch GP is ironclad.
However, its assets including cars will not be able to leave for the Italian GP at Monza - which takes place next weekend - until payment has been made.
