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Russian company Uralkali, which previously served as a title sponsor for American F1 team Haas, has reportedly demanded a full reimbursement from the team.
The development comes following the team's decision to drop the company as a sponsor ahead of the much anticipated 2022 season in response to the current situation in Ukraine. For the same reason, the team has also dropped Nikita Mazepin, who was to partner Mick Schumacher for a second season this year.
The young Russian driver is now reportedly launching a new foundation called 'We Compete As One'. The foundation aims to support athletes who are unable to compete in major sports for "political reasons."
As reported by ESPN F1, Uralkali issued a statement in response to the same, stating:
“The Company views the Team’s decision as unreasonable and believes that sports should always be free of politics and pressure from external factors.”
The company also revealed that the funds will be used to finance Mazepin's new foundation, stating:
“As most of the sponsorship funding for the 2022 season has already been transferred to Haas and given that the Team terminated the sponsorship agreement before the first race of the 2022 season, Haas has thus failed to perform its obligations to Uralkali for this year’s season. Uralkali shall request the immediate reimbursement of the amounts received by Haas. The refund from Haas and the remaining part of Uralkali’s sponsor financing for 2022 will be used to establish the We Compete As One athlete support foundation.”
The 23-year-old is the son of Dmitry Mazepin, the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Uralkali, who also happens to be "a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin."
Haas will be missing start of F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain due to freight delay
Haas reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi is set to take Mazepin's seat for Bahrain testing this week. The team, however, announced earlier today that the Haas freight arrived later than expected at the Bahrain International Circuit. As a result, the team will only begin their test during the final session on Thursday afternoon.
In a social media post, the team announced:
“The team’s freight arrived late last night to the circuit in Bahrain. This delay will impact our programme but we are targeting being out on track for the second session Thursday afternoon with @PiFitti [Pietro Fittipaldi] driving the VF-22.”
The team has not officially announced a replacement for Mazepin in the team, at the time of writing. Fittipaldi, Ferrari reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi, as well as former Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, however, are rumored to be the main contenders for the twentieth seat in F1.
