Haas-Rich Energy deal came about quickly – Steiner

2019 F1 season

26th October 2018, 13:0326th October 2018, 14:07 | Written by Dieter Rencken and Keith Collantine

Haas’s deal to sign Rich Energy as its new titles sponsor for the 2019 F1 season came about quickly, team principal Guenther Steiner told RaceFans.

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Speaking to RaceFans in an exclusive interview, Steiner said the deal “came about pretty quickly.”

The energy drink company was previously linked to an investment at Force India and sponsorship deal with Williams before it decided to proceed with Haas.

“It was before Austin that we started to talk,” said Steiner. “We talked what we can do, what we will do and what they will do, and then it came together.”

The team will overhaul its livery next year when it is rebranded as Rich Energy Haas F1 Team. Steiner said he expects the new look will have fans and critics. “I think always livery it’s always taste. We never will agree on it.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a good thing or a bad thing, it just will be different. Hopefully we can make it look nice and people will still like it.”

Gene Haas’s team entered F1 in 2016 as a means of promoting his machine tooling business. Speaking to media yesterday, Steiner said the team is ready to share its branding with other partners.

“Now we are in three years the Haas F1 name is I think pretty well-established, I think everybody would agree to that. Now everyone knows what Haas F1 is which in the beginning it wouldn’t have been if we’d have another one in it.

“If a partner comes along which contributes enough to do something together as well, because this gives us opportunities, why not do it? I think it will help the team.”

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37 comments on “Haas-Rich Energy deal came about quickly – Steiner”

Joao (@johnmilk)
26th October 2018, 13:09
Hey, is this Gene?
Yes
I’m Rich, want money?
Yes
Do you mind painting your care?
No
Sign here!
(signs)
Have it
1. Joao (@johnmilk)
  26th October 2018, 13:10
  *car
  Keith, you know what I want don’t you?
  1. Matteo (@m-bagattini)
    26th October 2018, 15:20
    @johnmilk he knows he knows @keithcollantine ;)
    We saw this site stepping up its game in 2018: I hope to see the technical stuff getting sorted after the end of the season to match the improving content quality (comments needs to be heavily reworked, same goes for the inclusion of tire types in timing charts)
  2. Phylyp (@phylyp)
    26th October 2018, 16:07
    A Freddo? A competitive grid? An edit button?
    Hint: only two of those will happen @johnmilk
    1. Joao (@johnmilk)
      26th October 2018, 16:23
      looking forward to that 10 car battle for the championship while eating some chocolate @phylyp
Steven Robertson (@emu55)
26th October 2018, 13:16
If they use the Sponsors colours, its going to look like a Lotus (hopefully)
1. Neil Dockray
  26th October 2018, 14:48
  As far as I am concerned Lotus colours were green & yellow.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
26th October 2018, 13:18
So much for due diligence ;-)
1. schooner (@schooner)
  26th October 2018, 13:59
  “Our due diligence has been done, and we investigated what we needed to investigate. Our legal advisors were satisfied,” … Gunther Steiner in Mexico.
  1. hahostolze (@hahostolze)
    26th October 2018, 14:39
    @schooner I saw that quote. No way is that true. He’s trying to convince the world it’s all good. Take it from me (or don’t), a few days is not enough to do serious due diligence on such matters.
    In F1 you want cars to be fast: you want deals to be slow.
    1. schooner (@schooner)
      26th October 2018, 15:27
      I read your posts from yesterday, and while I accept that you know a lot more than I do about matters like this, I think that I will take a wait and see attitude rather than being instantly dismissive of the whole thing as so much smoke and mirrors. I would hope that Haas and co. are a bit smarter than that. If this deal does go on to fail spectacularly however, we’ll get some great stories, and you will have earned a nice “I told you so”.
      1. hahostolze (@hahostolze)
        26th October 2018, 15:58
        I don’t want the deal to fail. It would be bad for F1 and a team which is quite close to the top of the ‘second class’. But I am convinced it will.
      2. Phylyp (@phylyp)
        26th October 2018, 18:23
        I would hope that Haas and co. are a bit smarter than that.
        @schooner – one part of me tells me that Gene Haas has earned his wealth through his business, and has run other motorsport teams, so has definitely rubbed shoulders with sponsors enough to discriminate a good pitch from a bad one.
        The other part of me says that people like @hahostolze and Dieter have reservations, based on their professional experience.
        We’re fortunate that you and I don’t have a direct stake in or exposure to (or influence in, for that matter :-)) the outcome, so all we can do is wait and watch, and hope that whatever happens, Haas F1 isn’t weakened as a racing team.
      3. BlackJackFan
        27th October 2018, 2:16
        I have a real bad feeling about this as well… I wonder why…
    2. Dale
      27th October 2018, 17:07
      I spent some time looking into Rich Energy over the last two days, and none of this makes any sense.
      There is no way that business (or the guy in charge) could or should have the capacity to be playing in this league.
      The waters around the whole Rich Energy thing are very muddy, and from what I see, it looks more like a front for something else, funded by money from somewhere else … not unlike the kind of setups used to launder money.
Tango (@tango)
26th October 2018, 13:29
I thought Williams was courting them.
The fact Haas believe people like their livery though…
1. BlackJackFan
  27th October 2018, 2:17
  I thought it was Rich courting Williams… and others… ;)
Krommenaas (@krommenaas)
26th October 2018, 13:30
I hope this won’t be the death blow for Williams; they may have been counting on that deal.
1. Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
  26th October 2018, 19:36
  I believe Claire made the right decision: There’s too little information about this company. My guess is the deal would have cost Williams more than they’d have earned from it.
  What do we know about them? They’ve got a website that won’t load up onto my browser. How expensive is a website?
  I hope Haas get paid in cash, but I suspect they won’t.
  I’m afraid that what happened to Sahara Force India was a bit over my head, but I understood it that they were sponsored via money borrowed from banks. Then one day the banks’ debt collectors came around wanting their collateral.
  1. Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
    27th October 2018, 2:37
    @drycrust Which browser? Works fine in Safari (which quite a number of websites these days don’t).
    1. Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
      27th October 2018, 16:45
      I had tried it in Chrome, Vivaldi, and Opera, and it wouldn’t load even after about 5 minutes in any of them. I just tried it again and it does now work in all three, but it takes about a minute to load. Oh, and I use Linux Mint as my operating system. I don’t think that should have made any difference though.
      1. Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
        27th October 2018, 16:49
        @justrhysism My apologies for not including you address in my comment above.
      2. Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
        28th October 2018, 0:33
        @drycrust Website is slow, but works fine.
        Seems they’re more interested in investing in sponsorship rather than digital – which seems crazy, but I don’t run a business…
2. BlackJackFan
  27th October 2018, 2:19
  It could be a blessing in disguise… . . .
Mark (@muzza)
26th October 2018, 13:44
Didn’t Ted Kravitz talk about Claire Williams actively schmoozing the Rich Energy bods with it being *almost* a given that that’s where their cash was going?
What now for Williams if they can’t attract even the money of a sugary drink provider?
1. Joao (@johnmilk)
  26th October 2018, 13:45
  they will have to go with an artificial sweetener
  1. Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
    26th October 2018, 19:24
    @johnmilk: SoTD! Spicy too!
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
26th October 2018, 15:05
What’s the point from having a title sponsor deal and a good technical partnership that guarantees what’s believed to be the benchmark PU and other significant components if you have the most uninspiring drivers line up on the grid.
1. Bob C.
  26th October 2018, 15:10
  if you have the most uninspiring drivers line up on the grid
  OK, personally, though, I think that statement just elevated the Sirotkin/Stroll line-up a tad more than it really deserves
  1. praero
    26th October 2018, 16:13
    @Bob C, your right, I would add the TR guys in there as well
Sundar Srinivas Harish (@sundark)
27th October 2018, 1:03
I was under the impression that the entire point of Haas F1 was to promote Haas CNC Machines. Is Gene satisfied with the amount of publicity he’s got in the last couple of years?
1. BlackJackFan
  27th October 2018, 2:21
  My thoughts also, Sundar…
2. Phylyp (@phylyp)
  27th October 2018, 11:19
  @sundark – till now, he’s targeted those who needed a CNC machine. Now he’s targeting those who want one. “Because”. Just like the target of those drinks.
BlackJackFan
27th October 2018, 2:27
Let me just clarify this…
Haas has spent about 200M.$$$ to create and run Haas F1… (Give or take…)
But for just 10M.$ one can create Rich Energy Haas F1… ? ? ?
If Frank/Claire agreed, and I had a bit more spare cash, could I create BlackJack/Williams F1…? (Sounds good to me… :)
Are we in Alice in Formula Onederland… :) :)
1. Sundar Srinivas Harish (@sundark)
  27th October 2018, 14:27
  You’ve got 10 mil to spare? Could you throw a few thousand my way?
2. Dale
  27th October 2018, 17:14
  Do you think a title sponsorship deal in a midfield team with no real historic significance is going for $200mil?
BlackJackFan
27th October 2018, 17:07
The crucial bit is: “… and [if] I had a bit more spare cash…” :)

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37 comments on “Haas-Rich Energy deal came about quickly – Steiner”