Williams F1 slapped with $149 million legal claim by former sponsors ROKiT: Here are the reasons

Williams F1 has been sued by former title sponsor ROKiT for $149 million for apparent damage to their reputation in the 2019 Formula 1 season.

Almost three years after Williams ended their deal with ROKiT as their sponsor, the latter has sued the team for quite an interesting reason. They believe that their brand's reputation was damaged because of the team's performance in the 2019 season.

In January 2019, ROKiT boss Jonathan Kendrick signed a three-year contract with the team as their title sponsor and the deal was extended for two further years. In 2020, however, when racing was shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a dispute arose between the two.

Due to the limited calendar that year in Formula 1, ROKiT claimed that they had agreed to pay a percentage of the sponsorship fee to the team. However, Williams canceled the agreement in May. This entire dispute went to the London Court of International Arbitration, where the team turned out to be successful.

However, the brand has now filed a new dispute. Kendrick revealed that the team had given a 'verbal' assurance that the 2019 Williams FW42 would be competitive, and hence a contract was signed. However, the team could only score a single point throughout the length of the season and ended at the bottom of the table.

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ROKiT boss feels Williams' commitments could never have been true

Although they are a legendary team with a history of championships, Williams has been uncompetitive over the past couple of seasons. ROKiT's boss revealed that the verbal assurances that were given to them by the team could never have been fulfilled. This led to damage to the company's reputation.

Motorsport quoted him,

"Before we signed it, we asked exactly those questions in front of my board," he said. "What is the state of the car? And what is the state of the development?"

"And we were told X, Y and Z, and it never, ever was true. And that's what we think we can prove, particularly when we go to court."

He also mentioned pre-season testing for the 2019 season, where the team arrived late. According to him, it was because they did not have enough funds.

"If you remember, they turned up at Barcelona [for 2019 testing] late, because they hadn't got the money to do it."

The team hasn't really improved since the 2019 season. The best finish they had was in 2021 at eighth in the standings. They've since finished at the bottom of the table.