Haas F1 sponsor Uralkali is responsible for reducing sinkholes

Photo: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP (Getty Images)

The Haas Formula 1 team has a new sponsor, Uralkali. You probably don’t know the Russian company, which is owned by Dmitry Mazepin, the father of Haas’ new driver Nikita Mazepin – and that probably means you haven’t heard the drama surrounding the company. So just let me fill you in.

Uralkali is a manufacturer and exporter of potash fertilizers. Potash, in its most basic essence, is a potassium-rich salt that is extracted from subterranean deposits from evaporated seabeds. Potassium is a key element in the growth and development of human, animal and vegetable life. So when it is contained in fertilizers, potash increases crop yields, increases plant quality, protects plants from extreme temperatures, repels pests, strengthens roots, enables plants to use water more efficiently – you get the essentials. Potash is important to farmers who own high-yielding fields on which they depend for livelihoods.

Potash mines, however, are affected by holes in the ground. It’s part of the game. But the Uralkali potash mines near the cities of Berezniki and Solikamsk. Sinkholes have long appeared in this region as the cities sit on either abandoned or existing potash mines – and these sinkholes have only been made worse by a series of small earthquakes.

But the brine that flowed into the mining holes became disastrous, like in that New York Times. Operations had to cease and the sinkhole soon reached a height of 120 x 125 meters – or approximately 393 x 410 feet. The Moscow time reported. For years, the sinkholes have taken parts of the cities and miners with them, forcing the residents of these cities to evacuate and find other accommodation.

“Cracks appear everywhere and they keep coming back,” said a resident of Bereznikiiki DW Akademiegesturing at a ceiling and wall that is falling to pieces.

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According to the same DW Akademie video, mining companies in the region have consistently ignored regulations and extracted huge amounts of potash, while it has become increasingly dangerous for the people who live directly above the deforested land. But even though some parts of the mines collapsed, Uralkali kept asserting that there was no danger of the other mines in the system collapsing – even as houses above the mines began to crumble or sink.

Some people who lost their property have been compensated, but not all. Most residents were only expected to leave and start over somewhere else. People who lived in houses on the edge of the sinkhole were told that their houses were still “partially habitable” and were therefore not offered any compensation – or were offered sums that were ridiculous enough.

So while there are many legitimate criticisms of the possible presence of the currently banned Russian flag that adorns the Haas machine this season, it is worth investigating where the money for one of the team’s few sponsorships came from.