In the round-up: Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says the outfit’s reputation has not been damaged by the negativae publicity surrounding title sponsor Rich Energy.
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What they say
Steiner was asked about the impact of negative social media posts from sponsor Rich Energy:There is a clear line: They pay us for advertising and we do our job.
So therefore I don’t think we are damaged as a team because we are an integral company, Haas, we are not doing anything wrong. We have not done anything wrong. We have done everything to the book.
So actually I think it gives us a good reputation because we didn’t react because we cannot. So I think we are in a good position.
We show the world that even with controversy outside of us we are not doing things which we shouldn’t be doing. We work professionally and keep out of things which we cannot control and I’m not entitled to control. We just go along and whatever happens happens.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Snapshot
Aston Martin debuted its Valkyrie hypercar at Silverstone yesterday.
Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
PREMA Racing regrets to announce that driver Sean Gelael will not take part in the Silverstone races due to personal reasons following to the events occurred in the first part of the weekend. pic.twitter.com/hC7EsO6qK3
— PREMA (@PREMA_Team) July 13, 2019
Following a board meeting of Rich Energy Ltd chaired by CEO William Storey and in light of the treacherous conduct of minority stakeholders the exclusive rights to distribute @rich_energy have been transferred to another company. Mr Storey retains complete ownership #RichEnergy pic.twitter.com/TXC8v8zM0v
— Rich Energy (@rich_energy) July 13, 2019
@HaasF1Team love @rich_energy so much (we don't blame them as #betterthanredbull ) they have kept our brand livery on the car even after we sacked them for poor performance! #RichEnergy #F1 #BritishGP2019 #business #worldclass #onyerbike #nobull pic.twitter.com/dN2RdMMitX
— Rich Energy (@rich_energy) July 13, 2019
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Revised post-free practice penalty (F2)
"Following yesterday’s FIA Formula 2 Free Practice session at Silverstone, Sean Gelael - who had originally received a reprimand - has now been handed a three place grid drop penalty for today’s Feature Race."
Pagenaud holds on for second pole of IndyCar season (IndyCar)
"Alexander Rossi of Andretti Autosport bounced off the outside wall in turn six, and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon spun early in his final timed lap."
"For Max, to qualify under two tenths off pole position at a power circuit like Silverstone is very satisfying and it is good to see things coming together for Pierre who got his joint best qualifying position of the year."
"Romain (Grosjean) had one very good lap, then all of a sudden we had no performance in the car. We need to look into that and see what we can do."
The Long Road Back (The Globe and Mail)
"One of the first things I remember is them basically telling me that I was paralyzed – and I just couldn’t understand. 'I was just like, 'No – you’re wrong. You’re wrong!'"
Thanks to Andrew for the tip.
For Norris, Formula One Is All-Consuming (The New York Times)
"When I first got into karting, and for my first four or five years, I was nothing special. I won one major race, and that was it."
Claire Williams (Nico Roberg via YouTube)
"excerpt"
Thanks to Tim for the tip
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Comment of the day
Don’t just blame F1 for clashes with other sports, says Jere:
People always seem to blame F1 for more or less any given weekend clash as if these were solely F1’s fault. Should everyone want to avoid clashes to the greatest extent possible, then all parties should be required and willing to make sacrifices to contribute to that, not only F1.
If F1 were to circle every other sports event there is, race events of different Motorsport categories, etc… then there’d be zero weekends left for the F1 races.
Jere (@Jerejj)
Happy birthday!
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On this day in F1
- 40 years ago today Williams scored its first F1 victory, courtesy of Clay Regazzoni, after his team mate Alan Jones retired while leading at Silverstone
rob91
14th July 2019, 0:23
The British round of the F1 season this year has been scheduled to fall on the same date as the finals of major tennis and cricket tournaments also being held in Britain and which have been set in stone on this years calendar long before the F1 race was. It is poor scheduling by F1 which I think could have easily been avoided.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
14th July 2019, 1:04
Dieter wrote this the other day on this site:
“On my rounds I learn from sources in the loop that next year’s British Grand Prix is scheduled to run from June 26th to 28 thus two weeks earlier and effectively switched with this year’s French Grand Prix weekend.”
Darryn Smith (@darryn)
14th July 2019, 4:58
They have so many races now that it is hard to schedule around everything.
Jere (@jerejj)
14th July 2019, 7:53
@darryn Yes indeed.
Selbbin (@selbbin)
14th July 2019, 6:42
Tickets are sold out at Silverstone so clearly it doesn’t matter. People will watch the sports they prefer. The tour de France is on again. Should Wimbledon have been postponed?
hawkii (@hawkii)
14th July 2019, 7:55
F1 fans will sell out the F1, cricket fans will sell out the cricket, tennis fans will sell out the tennis. The issue isn’t that the event itself will be under attended, it’s how many passive viewers are lost. Short of having two screens, casual viewers now have to make a choice which means everyone loses out, sports and fans.
It is impossible to miss every other sporting event, but managing to schedule the British GP for the same day as the CWC Final which is being held in England for the first time in 20 years is something which could surely be avoided? The one bonus is that since C4 managed to get hold the rights to show the final, at least the GP might pick up some crossover from people who didn’t change the channel in time!
Phylyp (@phylyp)
14th July 2019, 8:23
@hawkii – agreed. It’s a bit amusing to see how some people (not Selbbin) use extreme examples to ask “should F1 cater to every sport?”. The answer is an obvious no. But, cricket and motorsport are both sports with a healthy UK following, and it is in the interests of both organizers to avoid a clash. As rob91 pointed out above, FOM sets the calendar at the end of the previous season, so they could be a bit smarter.
anon
14th July 2019, 9:40
@phylyp, the question, though, will be whether the sport has to similarly yield to sport events that are happening at the same time in other countries that are also highly popular in that nation, whilst also balancing other interests that those circuits might have and working around other motorsport series.
As has been noted, an example of that is the fact that the organisers of the French GP want to avoid clashes with the Tour de France, and the sport is also now trying to do more to avoid clashing with at least some of the major motorsport events, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Trying to accommodate the wishes of Silverstone may then simply shift the problem of clashes with other major sporting events to another circuit.
Asides from having to deal with potential conflicts from other circuits, there is also the need to set the calendar up in such a way as to ensure you can fit in the extended break that the teams want in August, and also ensuring that the races are held at particular locations at times of the year that are going to be reasonably pleasant for the fans sitting in the grandstands.
On top of that, there is then the need to ensure that there is a reasonable gap between individual races to transport everything from one venue to another, bearing in mind that the teams usually have to get to a circuit by the Wednesday before a race so the cars can go through scruitineering on Thursday.
It’s not to say that it is necessarily impossible, but it is to say that it is not necessarily easy to balance all of the conflicting interests that may be present.
George (@george)
14th July 2019, 10:38
Isn’t the British GP usually the same day as Wimbledon? I certainly remember it happening a couple of times at least.
Leroy (@g-funk)
14th July 2019, 0:35
Sorry Guenther, but a man is known by the company he keeps. The people you choose to associate yourself with absolutely affect your reputation. In this case you absolutely look like fools for getting into business with Rich Energy, who everyone but you seemed to know would swindle you or make you look foolish somehow. Where is your trademark blunt honesty now?
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
14th July 2019, 1:07
Guenther knows the first rule of social media: Don’t feed the trolls!
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
14th July 2019, 1:27
To misquote a famous saying, “Let the landlord beware”.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
14th July 2019, 5:37
It’s F1 though, they’ll take whatever sponsors they can get. For sure HAAS are coming out of this with more money than they started or they never would have had the logos on the car in the first place.
I think it’s obvious who the fools are going to be coming out of this regardless of whatever spin Storey is trying to put on it now.
pastaman (@)
14th July 2019, 14:29
Fascinating to get this insight from master businessman @g-funk who personally knows all the parties involved and was present during all the negotiations.
Shimks (@shimks)
14th July 2019, 18:24
@pastaman That made me laugh! :O)
RatSack
14th July 2019, 1:57
Is it possible that Rich energy (Storey) is trying to provoke Haas into not running their logos on the car via inflammatory twitter statements so that Haas will be in breach of contract and Rich energy won’t have to pay? This is all so confusing.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
14th July 2019, 7:00
Gene has a contract to race with those logos on his cars, and in return he’ll be paid an amount of money. Presumably he is paid in instalments, and that the last instalment was paid. Whether someone said this or that doesn’t mean much, what matters is the next payment, and to get that Gene has to run his cars with the logo. So that’s what he’s doing.
Derek Edwards
14th July 2019, 2:00
As long as HAAS actually have been paid for advertising Rich Energy then that’s ok, but one does wonder where the money comes from. As for the actual knock-on effect of being associated with such a bizarre setup, well, that could be hard to quantify, given that the rest of the grid saw straight through Storey and gave him his marching orders.
Rich Energy’s Twitter account has been a sprawling mess of contradictions this week, quite apart from the outbursts of its (maybe) CEO – random pictures of obscure East European sportsters with stickers of the drink on their T-shirts, shots of actual premium drinks you can buy in real life with a can (the only can?) of Rich Energy next to them, the ludicrously anti-Whyte rhetoric, all quite bizarre. Somebody as old as me is getting a distinct Van Rossem vibe from all of this. Hopefully HAAS have other sources of income that can see them through, but, really, what state is F1 in when a team feels the need take money from an smoke and mirrors organisation such as this?
Anon
14th July 2019, 2:17
Does that make Hass race-ists for keeping such an anti-whyte sponsor?
Phylyp (@phylyp)
14th July 2019, 3:33
LOL :)
anon
14th July 2019, 10:09
Derek Edwards, and, just to make things even more bizarre, there now seem to be some questions over who exactly was behind the letter that was Tweeted by Storey supposedly claiming that it would be difficult to remove him from the board.
It turns out that the legal firm which is listed as issuing that letter – The Ebury Partnership LLP – is just as ephemeral as Rich Energy seems to be, given that particular legal firm appears to have only incorporated itself in June 2018 and only has a single solicitor on the books (as well as being listed as having changed offices within a few weeks of first registering an address).
Derek Edwards
14th July 2019, 2:23
You mean the Klueless Klutz Kan?
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
14th July 2019, 6:59
Claire and Nico’s video is great, a bit more informal and open than usual interviews around F1.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
14th July 2019, 7:00
Another great Rosberg interview. Williams hits some really interesting points. I don’t know if it’s worth getting in to here but I’d love to walk a day in her shoes. That would be great. It would make for a great feature.
I just don’t think the answer is to ignore it. I agree there’s definitely a huge problem with harassment and the lack of accountability or integrity on social media platforms. But what problem has ever truly gone away by ignoring it?
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
14th July 2019, 12:32
Depends on what problem-definition you hold.
If you take harassment/discrimination/sexism/racism/bullying/etc. by (mostly anonymous) keyboard warriors on social media as your problem, then ignoring it isn’t an effective measure. It is an anthropological problem unique to our era and it requires us learning a new way of coexisting and (re-) socialization in a globalized context.
For an individual in the public eye, a victim of the phenomena, the problem-definition is how not to be affected by it. Here ignoring it is basically the only sane thing you can do. Imagine people screaming evertying they say on socials at you whilst walking down the street. Would you walk away or would you climb on a pedestal, day in day out, to address these people?
Tristan (@skipgamer)
15th July 2019, 7:08
@jeffreyj
But the beauty of social media as a platform is you can still engage, have an account, make posts, and simply ignore the responses. You don’t have to go through and read the comments on every video you post or picture you share, and by doing so, and ignoring the trollls, you send a louder message than not engaging at all.
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
15th July 2019, 13:47
@skipgamer You could, but what for? People post on social media for self-gratification and/or to please others/fans/etc. So, if you don’t need the self-gratification you are basically whoring out your time to please others whom, evidently, don’t seem very appreciative.
So yeah, one actually doesn’t miss anything by tossing social media altogether.
Jere (@jerejj)
14th July 2019, 7:56
And yet another COTD-recognition, honor for me. The third within a short space of time already. Thanks for that, Keith.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
14th July 2019, 8:36
Congratulations, @jerejj!
Don
14th July 2019, 13:36
The article on Robert Wickens (The Long Road Back) is really intersting. Thanks for sharing that, and good luck to Robert!
melonfarmer
14th July 2019, 13:49
Second that. Good to see Robbie out in the modified NSX in Toronto. Puts the Rich Energy nonsense into perspective (grow up & grow a pair, Rich Energy).