Formula 1: Sponsorship drama brewing at Williams following Russian Grand Prix?
By Asher Fair
After Robert Kubica retired from the Russian Grand Prix, there may be drama brewing within the Williams Formula 1 team and sponsor PKN Orlen.
Formula 1 teams have been known to retire their cars late in races after they have sustained damage and really have no way of making up ground.
But ROKiT Williams Racing retired the car of Robert Kubica just past the halfway point of this past Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix at Sochi Autodrom, and his official classification states that his reason for retirement was nothing more than a simple withdrawal from the race.
After only 28 laps of this 53-lap race around the 18-turn, 3.634-mile (5.848-kilometer) Sochi Autodrom road course in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia, the 34-year-old Pole’s car was retired, and that has PKN Orlen, the Polish oil company that provides financial backing for both Williams and Kubica, asking questions.
Only a few months removed from the Rich Energy-Haas sponsorship debacle, could more sponsorship drama be brewing?
Here is what PKN Orlen spokesperson Joanna Zakrzewska had to say on Twitter about how the company will proceed as it pertains to Williams and what happened in the Russian Grand Prix.
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Translated from Polish to English, this message states the following: “In connection with the withdrawal of Robert Kubica from the Sunday race as part of the Russian Grand Prix, we have officially asked the ROKiT Williams Racing team for clarification. Based on them, we will take actions related to the enforcement of contractual obligations.”
Williams reportedly ended Kubica’s race early to preserve parts for the rest of the season after watching a parts failure in the car of rookie teammate George Russell result in his car being sent into the wall just one lap earlier. The financial struggles of the Grove-based team are well-known within Formula 1, so their decision made some sense.
With that being said, PKN Orlen’s frustration is more than understandable considering how much sponsors pay to have their logos featured on Formula 1 cars, so to have a car retired from a race for no real reason will naturally raise eyebrows. Of course, there is always a risk of a wreck or a mechanical failure, but this retirement had absolutely nothing to do with either.
On top of that, this was Kubica’s first retirement of the 2019 season. Through the 21-race season’s first 16 races, only Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton, who has practically sealed his sixth world championship this year, has finished each and every race, so a 16th completed race for Kubica would have been notable.
Will anything come of PKN Orlen’s investigation into Robert Kubica’s first retirement of the 2019 Formula 1 season? If there is one thing that Williams can’t afford, it’s for one of their financial backers not only to leave them but to “take action” against them.