The Williams team is demanding £10m in unpaid sponsorship from collapsed Icelandic bank Glitnir, according to The Daily Telegraph. The claim by the Grove team follows a promise made by the bank last year, which stated that the money would be transferred after Hamleys owned Baugur failed to convey funds.

With famous London top shop and former Williams sponsor Hamleys under ownership of Iceland’s Baugur retail group, bank Glitnir made a pact with the Formula 1 team in 2008 to cover costs for Baugur after it was unable to pay the English squad in time.

With Baugur generating large debts after buying British high street labels House of Fraser, Oasis and Karen Millen, Williams F1 allowed the Hamleys logos to remain on its cars as Glitnir took over control of payments to the outfit headed by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head.

With the global credit crunch having featured the dramatic crumple of the Icelandic banking sector last year, Glitnir was nationalised in the North Atlantic country and Williams is believed to have received no payments ever since.

Worries surround the state of the relationship between Baugur and Glitnir, with the Serious Fraud Office having now confirmed that an investigation is underway into another Icelandic bank, Kaupthing Edge.