Former Williams sponsor ROKiT has launched a $149m claim against the Grove F1 team for damage to its reputation. Full story:
The action, which alleges that the team made"fraudulent statements" when it signed the deal with mobile phone company ROKiT, has been dismissed byROKiT claims that Williams promised that it would have a competitive car in 2019 while knowing that it did not have sufficient funds to back up that claim.
ROKiT fulfilled its financial commitments in 2019 and the company's logos were on the car for the cancelled Australian GP weekend at the start of 2020. The dispute over the unpaid fees for 2020 subsequently went to the London Court of International Arbitration, where Williams ultimately proved successful.
Asked about the legal action, the team told Motorsport.com:"Williams Racing is aware of this spurious claim. "I've got the emails saying we'll pay you half, and then they cancelled it on Instagram, they didn't even tell us."