Haas could face delays in getting to the Italian Grand Prix as it is still at odds with Uralkali over whether a payment believed to be $9million has been paid, after the Russian firm had gone through the Dutch courts to seize the Formula 1 team’s assets.
Cars and equipment were evaluated with bailiffs and police in the pitlane at Zandvoort on Thursday evening after Uralkali claimed last month that Haas had missed a July deadline for the refund of a cancelled sponsorship agreement.
Following a Swiss arbitration court hearing in June, it was ruled that Haas should refund Uralkali part of its sponsorship payment made for 2022, prior to its title deal being cancelled in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with an F1 car also promised to the company as per the original partnership terms.
While the court stated Haas was within its rights to terminate the deal, it also said the American-owned squad could only keep a portion of the $13m sponsorship balance paid for the campaign.
Haas was therefore ordered to give back the remainder of the sponsorship payment that went beyond 4 March 2022, when the deal was cancelled.
While it was agreed that Haas’s participation in the Dutch GP could proceed as normal, it is understood that the team has been told that it will not be allowed to remove its cars and equipment from the country after the race until the outstanding payment has been made.
Sources told Autosport that Uralkali believes no effort had been made to issue the refund until it sought to seize Haas’ assets in Zandvoort.
Haas insists the payment was made on Friday evening, with owner Gene Haas saying on Sunday afternoon that “everything is now sorted”.
It is understood the payment was sent via the Middle East, with Haas having initially said it had to be sure that any transaction fully complied with sanctions that have been imposed on various Russian companies.
Their statement on Friday said: “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.”
Uralkali did not accept the sanctions issue as a reason for the delay in payment, claiming on Sunday that the funds had still not been received and that it did not expect any notification of a deposit due to it being the weekend.
Is it also understood Uralkali are waiting on a logistics plan for how and when the F1 car it have been promised will also be delivered.
Haas would only be permitted to leave the Netherlands with its equipment and head for next week’s Italian GP in Monza if Uralkali cancel the request to the Dutch courts.
Even if that process was activated it could still ultimately lead to delays in Haas being able to pack up freight ahead of the journey to Italy.
