After a number of months where the situation could be, at best, described as fluid, Haas F1 Team and Rich Energy have 'amicably' agreed to terminate their sponsorship deal with immediate effect.
The commercial deal with the start-up energy drinks company was set to be for multiple years, however, after a controversial court case was brought by British cycle manufacturers Whyte Bike for copyright infringement of their logo, things started to deteriorate.
Then, after losing the case in the English High Court, strange social media comments by former CEO William Storey started to appear in the lead up to the British Grand Prix with Storey surprising everyone, including the American team, with his take on the team’s performance and the commercial relationship.
Story then went even further, using the official Rich Energy Twitter accounts, and directly attacked the US team for poor results and then on the dawn of the British Grand Prix “fired” the team.
With the status of the management and shareholding of the energy drinks start-up in doubt and being debated on social media by Story and other Rich Energy shareholders, clearly at odds with his views and proclamations, the farcical situation soon became the summer’s go-to comedy series.
And while the Rich Energy civil war was being played out on social media, the Kannapolis based team stayed quiet and resolute, making none but the most basic statements saying that as things stood, the sponsorship agreement remained in place. The only changes were the court ordered removal of the offending antler horn logos from the black and gold cars.
Since then, however, the deal was thrown into question and it was rumoured that both parties were in discussion during the summer break on how to move forward and extract each other from the deal with minimal consequences.
So it was no real surprise when shortly after 2pm London time, a short statement was released by the team saying that the two companies had agreed to amicably terminate the Rich Energy sponsorship deal with immediate effect.
Haas F1 Team has since confirmed that, while their VF-19 will remain black and gold for the rest of the season, it will be without any Rich Energy branding on the car.
The short statement from Haas F1 Team read: "Haas F1Team and Rich Energy have amicably agreed to end their partnership in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship with immediate effect. While enjoying substantial brand recognition and significant exposure through its title sponsorship of Haas F1 Team in 2019, a corporate restructuring process at Rich Energy will see the need for a revised global strategy. Subsequently, Haas F1 Team and Rich Energy concluded a termination of the existing partnership was the best way forward for both parties. Haas F1 Team would like to express its thanks and best wishes to the stakeholders at Rich Energy."
As to whether the financial terms and break costs were also agreed and paid, is something that the team did not comment on. We can only watch the rolls for the High Court in coming months to see if there is any more to this strange but amusing summer story…
