At the beginning of the season Haas had partnered up with Rich Energy, a drinks manufacturer, as their main sponsor which meant the classic black and gold livery was back on the grid.
However, not even mid way through the season Rich Energy announced their split with the Haas F1 team, ultimately striping them of their title sponsor. This coming after a lengthy law suit in which Rich Energy was sued by a cycling company due to the close resemblance of logos.
Rich Energy came into this sport with the hope of battling it out with the other drinks company on the grid, Red Bull Racing. This, however, has not been the case with Red Bull storming ahead of the smaller Haas team in the championship standings.
The drinks sponsor announced their decision to depart on social media stating, "Today Rich Energy terminated our contract with Haas F1 Team for poor performance. We aim to beat Red Bull Racing and being behind Williams in Austria is unacceptable. The politics and PC attitude in F1 is also inhibiting our business. We wish the team well."
However, all is not as it seems, contractually their is no performance clause and therefore on these grounds Rich Energy cannot terminate their agreement. As such they will continue to sponsor Haas as their grounds for termination is invalid.
Gunther Steiner, Haas Team Principle, released a press statement saying, "Rich Energy is currently the title partner of Haas F1 Team. I cannot comment further on the contractual relationship between our two parties due to commercial confidentiality." Although vague, Steiner's statement speaks for itself. Yet another twist and turn for the Haas team to manoeuvre, will this be the end of Rich Energy on the Grid? Or will they have to stay there for the remainder of the season?
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