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Formula 1: Top 5 moments of the Rich Energy-Haas debacle

By Asher Fair

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 07: (L-R) Rich Energy CEO William Storey, drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen and Rich Energy Haas F1 Team Principal Guenther Steiner pose alongside the car during the Rich Energy Haas F1 Team livery unveiling at The Royal Automobile Club on February 07, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 07: (L-R) Rich Energy CEO William Storey, drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen and Rich Energy Haas F1 Team Principal Guenther Steiner pose alongside the car during the Rich Energy Haas F1 Team livery unveiling at The Royal Automobile Club on February 07, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images) /
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SHANGHAI, CHINA – APRIL 12: Kevin Magnussen of Denmark driving the (20) Haas F1 Team VF-19 Ferrari (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
SHANGHAI, CHINA – APRIL 12: Kevin Magnussen of Denmark driving the (20) Haas F1 Team VF-19 Ferrari (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) /

2. The bizarre opener

Nothing ever beats the original.

Well, in this case, there is one thing that does, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.

Seemingly out of nowhere and 10 days after the most recent Formula 1 race, the Austrian Grand Prix, Rich Energy tweeted that they had terminated the title sponsorship agreement between them and Haas, which only just began ahead of the 2019 season.

Yet after nine of the season’s 21 races, this deal was apparently no more.

This tweet ended up being proven not true, which you’ll see definitive evidence of in the next slide if everything else hasn’t convinced you of this already. But in addition to the fact that the two sides never actually cut ties, it was also fairly obvious that “poor performance” or anything related to the “PC attitude” or “politics” of Formula 1 had to do with the creation of this tweet.

The most recent Formula 1 race had not taken place for 10 days, so if the issue was really Haas’ poor performance, we would have known it right after Kevin Magnussen finished behind Williams rookie George Russell in this race, not 10 days later and conveniently just one day before their £35,416  to Whyte Bikes was due.

Additionally, as expected, we now know that there was nothing even remotely close to being along the lines of a performance clause in the Rich Energy-Haas title sponsorship agreement.

With all things considered, the fact that this original tweet isn’t number one on this list says a ton about number one’s significance.

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