New name for the new season: Haas announces new title sponsor. But he’s had a sordid past

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team. That money is king in Formula 1, Haas has been proving for a long time, this time by partnering with MoneyGram, a company that has been sued several times.

Haas raced without a title sponsor in 2022 when it ended its partnership with Russian fertilizer manufacturer Uralkali following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The end of the sponsorship was also linked to the departure of the team’s then driver, Nikita Mazepin.

Now, however, the name of the sponsor is back in the team’s name, this time it is MoneyGram, an American financial services firm that is not unblemished in its business.

In 2012, the firm pleaded guilty to money laundering. Its services were used for phishing, the number of victims of which has reached thousands.

The company also has a record of repeatedly breaking laws, ignoring customer complaints and government appeals. The last official complaint was filed in April 2022.

This is not the first time Haas has sponsored a company with legal problems. In 2019, he was the lead sponsor of the energy drink maker Rich Energy’s team.

When Rich Energy tried to buy the Force India F1 stable, there was speculation about its legitimacy. Still no documents have been released confirming Rich Energy CEO William Storey’s claim that they produced 90 million cans of the drink and that the company is backed by $4 billion.

In the end, the partnership didn’t work out well for Haas. Back in July, it was announced that Rich Energy was pulling out of the sponsorship deal.

A statement from the head of Haas

But Haas boss Gunther Steiner is optimistic about the partnership with MoneyGram. “We are thrilled that it is now January and we can officially be called the MoneGram Haas F1 Team. When we announced MoneyGram as title sponsor last October at the US VC, we were already looking forward to this date. It ‘s a new year for us, a new name and even a new logo,” the team said in an official statement.

But that’s not all that’s changing in the stable this year. Mick Schumacher will be replaced by the more experienced Nico Hülkenberg alongside Kevin Magnussen.

Source: Haas F1 Team