A threat to the Haas Formula 1 team’s participation in the Italian GP is over after the team paid former sponsor Uralkali the money that it was owed.
A legal dispute over the payment meant that there was a chance that the team could have been blocked from taking its cars and equipment out of Holland after this weekend’s Dutch GP.
However it’s understood that the payment was made late on Friday and the team is now free to leave Zandvoort on schedule on Sunday evening.
The affair began when Haas ditched Nikita Mazepin at the start of 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine made it impossible to employ him.
The team kept the sponsorship that had been paid in advance by the Uralkali company owned by Mazepin’s father Dmitry.
A Swiss arbitration court decided in June that the team should return $9 million to Uralkali, and Haas had no option but to pay.
The team said that international sanction laws slowed the process of returning the funds, although Uralkali disputed that claim.
On Friday team boss Ayao Komatsu said: “The arbitration ruling was made, and then we accepted it. We’re not disputing it whatsoever.
“It’s a complicated process to transfer the funds across, and we working on that, and it’s been taking longer than I would like. We are fully focused on making it across as soon as possible.”
In an effort to encourage payment Uralkali sent police and local bailiffs to Zandvoort on Thursday, and after some discussion it was agreed that Haas would be able to race this weekend.
However if the funds were not paid by the team could have be blocked from taking its trucks and equipment out of Holland on Sunday night, thus threatening its participation at Monza.
