Formula 1: Haas and Rich Energy have officially cut ties
By Asher Fair
The Haas Formula 1 team and title sponsor Rich Energy have officially cut ties following a summer that featured a debacle for the ages.
Last November, Rich Energy signed a contract to become the title sponsor of the Haas Formula 1 team beginning in the 2019 season.
Not even one year later, the two sides have officially cut ties. They agreed to terminate their partnership just 14 races into the 21-race 2019 season following Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix in which Haas drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen finished in 16th and 18th place, respectively, with Magnussen having been forced to retire.
Haas confirmed this news on Twitter.
Haas F1 Team Statement on Rich Energy. pic.twitter.com/TG0SmfTkTU
— MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) September 9, 2019
This news comes just days after it was announced that Rich Energy founder and CEO William Storey had returned as the company’s majority shareholder.
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Haas previously stated that they were unwilling to continue working with Storey following a bizarre sequence of events, and he reportedly sold his majority stake in the company shortly thereafter.
The whole debacle between the British drinks company and Formula 1’s lone American team began after the Austrian Grand Prix when Rich Energy claimed on Twitter that they had terminated their contract agreement with Haas due to poor performance.
In reality, the contract had not been terminated, and Haas confirmed this while continuing to run Rich Energy branding on their two cars.
But Storey went rogue and continued saying and posting petulant remarks and photos about Rich Energy “sacking” Haas for poor performance, although at one point he seemed to unintentionally admit that this wasn’t the case.
Without going too much into detail here about just how bizarre and even comical this relationship became, take a look at some of the highlights of it here.
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Rich Energy agreed to a contract as Haas’ title sponsor for the 2019 Formula 1 season after exploring the possibility of partnering with other teams such as McLaren, Force India (now Racing Point) and Williams. The black and gold livery of Haas’ cars is not slated to change for the final seven races of the season aside of the fact that the company’s logo will no longer be on them.