Formula 1: More to Rich Energy’s sponsorship termination than Haas’ performance?

Is there more to Rich Energy’s contract termination with the Haas Formula 1 team than poor performance throughout the first nine races of the 2021 season?

British beverage company Rich Energy signed a sponsorship contract with the Haas Formula 1 team prior to the 2019 season, but nine races into the 21-race season, they have terminated this agreement.

Not only that, but they stated that they had terminated this agreement in bizarre fashion, taking to Twitter to effectively call out the team for being slow and to call out Formula 1 for “inhibiting” their business.

Here is Rich Energy Haas’ tweet about the subject.

But is there more to it than this lack of performance that caused Rich Energy to make this decision…if it was even their decision to make?

Haas have yet to comment about the matter aside of team principal Guenther Steiner’s statement that he cannot comment further, so until we know more, we can only speculate. However, all signs point to Rich Energy’s tweet being just a sliver, if even that, of the truth.

When Haas and Rich Energy first agreed on this sponsorship deal, there was skepticism because of how shady the company seemed. Rich Energy were an energy drinks company that hardly anybody had ever heard of, and all they were interested in doing from day one was calling out “rival” Red Bull and Red Bull Racing, just as all they were interested in in terms of the racing element was beating them on the track, something they epically failed to do.

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Such skepticism stemmed from the idea that the company was a fraud and would not be able to provide the funding to sponsor a Formula 1 team, especially a company without an international presence and that many people had never even heard of before they partnered with Haas ahead of the season.

Additionally, Haas were recently asked to remove Rich Energy’s stag logo from their cars as a result a copyright dispute with Whyte Bikes since the two companies have pretty much identical logos, with Rich Energy effectively copying Whyte Bikes’ logo.

According to ESPN, “a ruling by the High Court allowed Whyte Bikes to lodge an injunction against Rich Energy to ensure it stopped using the logo, while also entitling Whyte to potential damages or a share of profits.”

When this ruling was made, Rich Energy claimed that it would not affect their future marketing programs. Now, one month later, here they are: out of Formula 1.

And blaming Haas for it.

With all things considered, blaming Haas’ performance looks like nothing more than a way for Rich Energy to make Haas the scapegoat in a situation that Rich Energy brought upon themselves.

Even if performance did have something to do with their decision — again, if it was even their decision — to leave, taking to Twitter to effectively denounce the team as trash in making this decision is about the least professional way to go about it. When I first read this tweet, I honestly thought it was some parity account.

Haas have struggled this season, with just four top 10 finishes through nine races netting them 16 points and the ninth position in the 10-team constructor standings, ahead of only the backmarker ROKiT Williams Racing team with no points and not even any top 14 finishes, and they are the only team to finish behind one of the Williams cars in multiple races this season.

But still, to abruptly end a sponsorship agreement over poor performance and to straight-up rip and blame the team for it is absurd and points to the idea that this was not actually Rich Energy’s decision.

Another idea that points to this is the fact that they blamed Formula 1 for “inhibiting” their business, which makes no sense since they wouldn’t even be relevant had they not partnered with Haas in Formula 1 to begin with.

The only reason why any company or individual would do something like this is if they were forced out, and this seems like a case of being forced out but trying to make the other party look like the “bad guy” by making the ugly break-up public first, especially given the extent to which they went to publicize their severed relationship with Haas.

Despite what Rich Energy stated in this tweet, all signs point to this being what happened. After all, if they lied to get this far, it’s hard to believe they are only now telling the truth.