Haas livery launch, Royal Automobile Club, 2019

Haas sponsor Rich Energy takes aim at Red Bull “off the track”

2019 F1 season

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New Haas sponsor Rich Energy has set its sights on beating Red Bull off the track, though the team has played down its chances of beating the four-times constructors champions in the near future.

Haas revealed its new livery for the 2019 F1 season in an event at the Royal Automobile Club in London today. It is branded in the colours of Rich Energy.

Speaking to media including RaceFans at the event, Rich Energy CEO William Storey referred to challenging Red Bull “on and off the track”, but later clarified and expanded on his remarks.

“We think we’ve got a real opportunity to beat them – off the track,” said Storey.

“I think we’ve already beaten them [in that] we’ve got a better-looking car,” he added after the team’s new livery was revealed.

“We’re expanding very quickly, we’re taking a huge amount of business from them. Some of the biggest drinks distributors in Europe are de-listing Red Bull now.

“And I think our results will start to speak for themselves. Formula 1’s a wonderful platform for us. We’re with the best team, the best-run team, in my opinion, and equally importantly lovely people, so we’re delighted to work with Haas, we want to do it for a very long-term basis.”

Storey believes his brand can eventually outstrip Red Bull, whose F1 team is entering its 15th season in 2019.

“I think Red Bull are a brilliantly-run business. I think Dietrich Mateschitz is a very clever guy. I think he created a category in 1987.

“We just feel we’ve got a better product and a better brand and we feel that there’s a little bit of apathy and, dare I say, hubris in the marketplace.”

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said his team’s car was the next-quickest to Red Bull’s in 2018, and beating them is the team’s “ambition”.

“They are good in racing, they are very good. But you never know: Last year I think we had the fourth-fastest car, we finished fifth, I know about that. But the next one up was Red Bull.

“We can try, if we achieve it or not I don’t know but if you don’t try for sure you don’t achieve it.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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38 comments on “Haas sponsor Rich Energy takes aim at Red Bull “off the track””

  1. We’re expanding very quickly, we’re taking a huge amount of business from them. Some of the biggest drinks distributors in Europe are de-listing Red Bull now.

    Ok, so I admit I know almost nothing about how this business is doing, but this looks like a Trump-level kind of lie… No one seems to have found cans of Rich Energy in supermarkets, yet they are selling thousands and thousands of cans and distributors are fleeing from Red Bull, the most well known company in the segment? Really???

    1. It’s astonishing. They’re such a fraud.

    2. Fudge Kobayashi (@)
      7th February 2019, 14:48

      Trumpian statement indeed! Absolute BS.

    3. It’s like the “Where’s Waldo” of energy drinks?
      They’ve also got to beat Monster, Rockstar, and the cheap one from the £1 shop.

    4. You know what they said, it’s more important to be morally correct than factually right.

    5. I managed to get a pack of 24 off Amazon for the time it was in stock. Tasted like a generic rebrand in all honesty, drank about half of one can and gave the rest away. Trump level lie, I would agree with this!

      1. Or Soulja Boy (Google ‘Soulja Boy Console’)

        1. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
          7th February 2019, 17:31

          (and note that souljagame.com now redirects to nintendo.com/3ds)

    6. Trump did do well with these kinds of lies so they’re not being stupid :)

  2. That’s a little bit like me buying a 99p hammer from B&M and releasing a statement telling Thor he might as well retire, because, well, obviously my hammer’s better.

  3. This guy is doing this… how long until some random guy claims to have invented a “premium” cola drink and starts “beating” Coca Cola and Pepsi at their own game?

    What a load of BS

    1. and we feel that there’s a little bit … dare I say, hubris in the market place.”

      You don’t say.

      1. @bosyber I actually laughed out at that :)

      2. @bosyber: Yes, thought that was a little rich.

        1. I see what you did there, and I approve.

  4. “We think we’ve got a real opportunity to beat them – off the track,” said Storey.

    “We’re expanding very quickly, we’re taking a huge amount of business from them. Some of the biggest drinks distributors in Europe are de-listing Red Bull now.

    Someone’s been drinking too much, and its not Rich Energy they’ve been imbibing.

    1. I think part of my dislike of Rich Energy is just that Haas/Steiner have tended to be rather straight-shooting most of the time, and the few times I’ve found them taking liberties with the truth were understandable (defending Grosjean’s poor driving, for instance). There might be a few exceptions, but they’re the small exception, not the norm.

      So to see them allied with a blowhard company like Rich Energy just rubs me the wrong way. If Rich Energy were allied with, say, McLaren, I’d be cheering them on and saying they’re a match made in heaven :)

      1. @phylyp this is exactly how I feel.

        1. @phylyp
          “I think part of my dislike of Rich Energy is just that Haas/Steiner have tended to be rather straight-shooting most of the time”
          Agreed- All the bosses BS to suit their team at times but I think Steiner (along with Toto) seem the most honest for the most part. Yesterdays presentation was really bizarre, it was like the first day of Kindy and no-one knew what to say or where to stand :)
          I know nothing of Rich Energy but to challenge the Red Bull is something.

  5. On their website Red Bull say they sold 6.7 billion cans of energy drink in 2018.

    1. According to the Statista website, Red Bull employed 11, 886 people in 2017.

  6. https://www.venturegiants.com/news-channel-377-entrepreneur-raises-900000-through-venture-giants—review.aspx

    This bloke may turn out to be the Jim Fisk or Charles Ponzi of the 21st century…or not. It won’t take long to find out if the money stops.

  7. I’m just glad we weren’t subject to a black and gold Williams.

  8. Openly lying to the media should get you a jail sentence. Those people are a curse to human beings.

  9. petebaldwin (@)
    7th February 2019, 21:07

    They’ve got more chance of beating Mercedes on track than they have outselling Red Bull!

    1. Considering that chance is 0, as well as the chance to beat ferrari or red bull on track, doesn’t look that good for their drink business!

  10. Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
    7th February 2019, 21:12

    Nice joke Rich Energy….

    Maybe first try to be taken serious as a business

  11. (if you read this in the voice of Jeremy Clarkson, it will make it easier for you to get to the end)

    I usually understand, even if i may disagree with, European and British virtue signalling tropes…

    – “Leavers are old racists”…. well, probably not, but that’s your politics. Whatever.

    – “Trump is a racist and in bed with Putin”… this coming from the continent with, well, Spain and a gas pipeline from Russia to prevent everyone from freezing when the bird choppers aren’t moving is cute. Trump is not your president, and I have more guns than some of the immigrants in Leeds. I don’t care.

    – “Is that from The Daily Mail? That doesn’t even qualify as news!” The Daily Mail could literally publish a picture of the sky totled “The sky is blue!”, and every one of you would damn well say “The sky is green!”

    – “Diesel is….” well, wait. Which is it again now? It was super awesome and Americans were fat losers for not driving them in the 2000s. Then one morning in 2015, a random Brussels bureaucrat in the MiniTruth decreed that diesel was bad. Your reaction was literally “oh, ok.” You didn’t even put up a fight. (a common theme we notice…)

    – The French say… well, they’re saying “Attention à ce terroriste!” instead of “Achten Sie auf diesen Terroristen!”. So whatever the French with their big, beautiful wall around their brown tower have to say… me and my grandfather who never went back to France don’t care either.

    But Rich Energy. This hatred of Rich Energy is really fascinating. Where does it come from? Why is it on the same level of hatred at Trump and Ford F-150s?

    “It’s astonishing. They’re such a fraud.”
    “a blowhard company like Rich Energy”
    “Those people are a curse to human beings.

    Please tell me that you’re aware that ALL energy drinks are vile swill. 97% of IPCC politicians – i mean scientists – agree that energy drinks will be the death of humanity in 12 years. (@ruliemaulana – i see what you did there.)

    Can someone here that can give this fat, dumb, fat, cousin-sleeping (American-pickup-truck-cousin sleeping, not the creepy child-cousin-sleeping y’all have recently imported) fat American an explanation of the vitriol and hatred of Rich Energy in Europeville and Canadia?

    I love to learn.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      8th February 2019, 3:22

      And on that bombshell……

      1. @petebaldwin – The Sandero? Really?!? :-)

    2. I love to learn.

      That’s a bit rich for someone venting his/her own believes so loudly :P

    3. “a blowhard company like Rich Energy”

      @coloradosti – I’ll explain this, seeing as I made this comment.

      Here’s a company that many people in the UK and elsewhere have gone about looking for a can of product, but have often turned up empty handed. A company that multiple people have tried to determine the size of, and have come up short (example 1, example 2). And yet, a company that’s talking about knocking down Red Bull a peg or two on the sales charts, and accuses Red Bull of hubris.

      Red Bull – love them or hate them – are a behemoth in the sport/lifestyle area, selling billions of cans of drink, and in turn using their profit to fund teams and individuals to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars/pounds.

      There is also a bit of anger that a good team like Haas is allied with a questionable concern like Rich Energy, and fear that it might pull down the F1 team with it, if things go awry. That was the point I was making in the comment above that you quoted.

      And this isn’t some newfound feeling towards Rich Energy – these questions have been swirling for months ever since the early announcements were made, combined with incredulity at how things are still progressing.

      1. @coloradoski

        No offence pal but you will find it was a certain institution on your side of the pond (and that really is hubris) that decided diesel was bad! And then spent all their time convincing everyone else of the fact by suing the backside of of anybody you lot see as competition and ruining the sales value of everyone else’s ride!

        Oh and screwing up the climate because even an amoeba would know that NoX from Diesel engines is hardly the biggest killer on the planet. Yet you somehow convinced the world that those are the things to look out for in the late seventies thus screwing lean burn technology for the rest of us.

        And you don’t even drive the things…

  12. It’s a powerful beverage, uses only the finest ingredients for perfection in flavour, delivers true premium performance, (forget the wings, Rich Energy gives you horns), it’s formulated to provide increased alertness, attention and energy with no compromise, keeping you going 100 times longer.

    “Rich Energy is a premium and innovative British energy drink painstakingly developed and optimised over the last 6 years with leading beverage experts and recently launched in the UK and US.

    The sole objective was to create a peerless, ultra high quality energy drink with none of the downsides of the competition, a crisp clean taste and high performance.

    We felt there was a need for a no compromise, elite product that performed as a brilliant stand alone energy drink with a premium taste but also won taste tests as a mixer. As such only the best ingredients were identified and sourced from pure mineral water with optimal composition from a natural Alpine spring to luxury organic sugar cane and the best sources of energy available.

    Whilst our recipe is a closely guarded secret, we have a cutting edge £50m manufacturing facility and our cans are made in the UK. We have the highest available certification in the EU and US and the lowest sugar content possible whilst maintaining the balance of taurine and caffeine to deliver genuine energy performance.

    This is a brilliantly made elite drink for the discerning customer.
    We worked with leading experts around the world on all elements of this fantastic product and we are very proud to bring the elevated taste and experience of the UK’s premium energy drink to the market. Get Rich and enjoy the experience! ”

    Anyone know where I can by find a can west of the Mississippi?

    1. Anyone know where I can by find a can west of the Mississippi?

      @budchekov – wait your turn, my friend. There’s people east of the Atlantic who’ve not seen hide nor hair of a Rich Energy can.

      1. Not sure what to say now, this Rich guy will have Haas beat RBR by Monaco :)

  13. I can not ignore that this Rich Energy logo seems to come from Heinrich Himmlers brain. It could also hang on the wall from Herman Görings yachting lodge, next to the other trophies he shot. It resembles a so called Rüne sign that was favorite with Nazi big-shots. It’s symmetrical character and sharp edges are to Gothic for me. Mr. Storey clearly stept in F1 to beat his all powerful rival Red Bull on the world market. His provocative comments show underdog feelings of which he hopes to trigger the rebellious sentiments of young consumers (his targeted customers). He is playing the Black knight fascist order against the Red Danger all over again. He even thinks to have created a Herren-rasse drink of pure Ingredients (blood) which is much higher quality than this contaminated RB poison. Strange Story.

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