Williams Racing is preparing for an expensive lawsuit with their former F1 sponsor, ROKiT.
The telecommunications company, which took on a title sponsorship agreement with Williams in 2019, lodged legal action against the team in a Florida court this week, seeking $222 million in damages.
ROKiT claims it has “suffered significant financial loss and damage to their goodwill and business reputation” as a “direct and proximate result of the fraudulent statements made by the defendants”.
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“[Williams] intentionally and fraudulently concealed the fact that Williams Engineering simply did not have enough money to develop the F1 car which would be subject to the sponsorship agreements to an industry-leading standard,” the filing reads.
ROKiT further argued that Williams Racing declared that the Williams FW42 “would place in the upper side of the leaderboard, and would not be slower than the 2018 Williams F1 car”, while it “knew that the F1 car, which would be subject to the sponsorship agreements, had no chance to be competitive, or at the least, place in the upper side of the leaderboard, and actively concealed this fact”.
In addition to the team itself, the action also named former deputy team principal Claire Williams and ex-team executives Mike O’Driscoll and Doug Lafferty as defendants.
Williams experienced a horrific season in 2019, finishing bottom of the constructors’ standings after claiming only one point.
During the season, the sponsorship deal with ROKiT has been extended for another two years and an additional arrangement with its sister drinks company was also planned.
However, after years of hardship and with the COVID-19 pandemic taking hold, in May 2020, Williams announced that the sponsorship agreement with ROKiT had been terminated and that the team was exploring its sale options.
This legal action comes after Williams successfully sued ROKiT in 2021 after a London court found the latter to have breached its contract.
Williams was awarded a then sum of $53m, which has since required further legal action to be obtained.
ROKiT is now counter-suing, claiming it “was not aware of the fraudulent concealment of statements of material facts by defendants that were not discovered until after the arbitration had concluded”.
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