The decision to remove the livery casts more doubt on previous claims that the colours simply reflect the branding of its sponsor — already seen as dubious because Uralkali predominantly uses green and red.
Haas has had a chequered history with sponsorship deals. In 2019 in announced a title sponsorship with the Rich Energy drink branded, headed by outspoken entrepreneur Williams Storey. The deal ended in controversy not long after Storey announced halfway through the season that he was cancelling the sponsorship via social media, apparently due to the team’s poor performance.
“For me these are challenges you see life,” Steiner commented on the team’s sponsorship woes. “I could do without them, I’m not looking for them, but they happen.
“When we signed the deal with Uralkali, who would have known that there would be a war going on in a year’s time? I had no impact on that one. Everything was going fine until this happened, but in life sometimes you need to make decisions even if they’re not easy, and they come to you and you just need to deal with it.
“What makes you suffer makes you tougher and as I’ve suffered a lot, I’m pretty tough.”