Haas rejects Uralkali’s refund request and demands compensation

In the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Haas took drastic measures. The team’s response was immediate as they removed Uralkali (a Russian company) as a sponsor from their race cars right from the Barcelona tests. Furthermore, the decisions made by the FIA towards Russia led Haas to terminate its contract with Nikita Mazepin, whose father is none other than Dmitry Mazepin, the executive of Uralkali.

Uralkali initiated legal proceedings against the team and demanded a refund of the invested funds. The statement read: « Since the majority of the sponsorship funds have already been transferred to Haas and considering that the team terminated the sponsorship contract before the first race of the 2022 season, Haas has therefore failed to fulfill its obligations towards Uralkali for this season. Uralkali is requesting the immediate reimbursement of the funds received by Haas. ».

The amount of funds in question amount to around twelve million euros, which Haas simply refuses to reimburse. In response, the American team invokes its right to terminate the contract in the event of damage to its image.

The rule precisely explains that Uralkali must not « insult, provoke disputes, ridicule, damage the public reputation, well-being, or favorable image of Haas ». However, Dmitry Mazepin’s relations with the Kremlin contradict the sanctions imposed by the European Union.

But that’s not all. Because if Haas refuses to refund its former sponsor, the team is demanding compensation for the loss of profits that this contract termination has caused. This compensation would amount to eight million euros.

Parallelly, the driver Nikita Mazepin has created his foundation to support Russian drivers excluded from competitions.