Haas have learned lessons from their experience with former title sponsor Rich Energy last year, according to team principal Guenther Steiner.

The energy drinks brand joined the team at the beginning of 2019. But after just nine races the company announced it had cancelled its deal with the F1 team.

Rich Energy CEO William Storey repeatedly criticised Haas on social media, and the two formally split over the summer break. According to Haas, Rich Energy only made the first of their scheduled payments under their deal.

Steiner, who told RaceFans in 2018 the Rich Energy deal had come about “pretty quickly”, admitted the team will approach future deals with other sponsors more cautiously.

“We are a lot more careful,” he said in an exclusive interview RaceFans. “We have not ‘burned fingers’, but we are a lot more careful about what we are doing and we are in no rush to do anything. You can make a mistake once, and the second time doesn’t work.”

Before the split from the team, Rich Energy also had to change its logo due to a court case over copyright infringement, which it later lost.

Steiner added there are signs Formula 1’s growing popularity since its takeover by Liberty Media will make it easier to find more sponsors in future.

“I think there is an incubation time, people need to realise that,” he said. “Formula 1 for a while was not growing, was not getting better, and I think Liberty is doing a good job in growing it and showing that the footprint gets better, that the TV gets better. In general it’s up. But it takes some time.”

Read Dieter Rencken’s exclusive interview with Haas team principal Guenther Steiner in the new RacingLines column later today on RaceFans

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2020 F1 season