Williams awarded £26 million in court case against former sponsor

The former title sponsor of Williams, ROKiT, has been ordered by a US judge to pay more than £26 million to the Formula 1 team.

ROKiT joined Williams as title sponsor ahead of the 2019 season and appeared on the cars of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi during pre-season testing in 2020.

However, COVID-19 then hit, with the sponsor reneging on the deal and Williams not running the ROKiT livery once the season got underway in July 2020.

This meant a planned three-year deal ended after only one, with ROKiT withholding scheduled money to the team.

As a result, Williams took the case to court believing their contract had been breached.

Williams awarded legal victory

In the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Judge Christina A Synder ruled on December 1st that ROKiT is liable to pay £26,220,094.25 GBP to Williams.

That equates to $32.2 million USD.

ROKiT must also pay £1 million to cover Williams' legal costs.

Williams remain without a title sponsor, but has since been sold to US firm Dorilton Capital, while the telecommunications company remain active in motorsport sponsorship, mainly in Formula E and British Touring Cars, sponsoring Nicholas Hamilton - the brother of Lewis.