Formula 1 | The F1 team had to be humbled: it paid the Russian potash company millions of euros and handed over the F1 car

F1 team Haas has paid the Russian fertilizer company Uralkali nine million dollars (eight million euros) and handed over one F1 car to the company.

The team was in a forced situation, as it was not allowed to move out of Holland after the weekend’s F1 races until the obligations imposed by the court had been fulfilled. Now Uralkali has confirmed that it has received the payment and the 2021 F1 car, says Autosport.

The background here is Haas’ decision to end cooperation with Uralkal, the world’s largest potash or potassium carbonate producer, in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine. At the same time, the team fired the owner of Uralkali, a Russian oligarch by Dmitri Mazepin for the boy To Nikita Mazepinwho was Haas’ second race driver.

Haas did not intend to pay back the sponsorship money he received from the company, but the Swiss court decided the case in favor of Uralkal.

According to Haas the payment was already made last Friday, but the confirmation of the payment was delayed due to the weekend. According to Autosport, the payment was made to an account in the Middle East because Haas was afraid that a direct payment to Russia would be against the sanctions.

The next F1 race is already next weekend in Monza, Italy, but the delay of the transfer by a day does not make it difficult for the Haas team to prepare for the competition.