The Haas Formula One team will have payments and money transfer company MoneyGram (MGI.O) as their title sponsor from next season in a multi-year deal that will provide a welcome infusion of cash for the series’ only U.S. based outfit.
The backing was officially announced at a coffee shop in downtown Austin on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s U.S. Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.
Haas entered F1 in 2016 and have spent much of that time without a title sponsor other than Haas Automation, the company of machine-tools industrialist and team owner Gene Haas.
The Ferrari-powered team are eighth out of 10 teams in the constuctors’ standings, level on points with ninth-placed AlphaTauri.
Uralkali, owned by Russian billionaire Dmitry Mazepin, was the team’s most recent title sponsor but the Potash producer was forced out of the sport in February after the oligarch was placed on a European Union sanctions blacklist over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special operation.”
MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes told Reuters that Formula One and Haas were the perfect fit for a company that operates in more than 200 countries and territories and is seeking to energise its brand.
Next year F1 will have a record 24 races across 21 countries and five continents, including three in the U.S..
“We like to think of ourselves as one of the fastest ways to send money and F1 being one of the fastest sports in the world we think it is a fantastic overlap and extremely unique opportunity for us,” Holmes told Reuters.
“When you think about Haas itself they are a bit of a rock and roll kind of team and under Gene’s leadership and partnership with Guenther [Steiner, team principal] I think they have created a really compelling team.
“Many people might think they [Haas] are kind of underdogs and absolutely that’s what’s fun about it — people want to root for them, they want them to be successful and I think it is great partnership.”
MoneyGram has explored sport sponsorship before and has partnered ICC Cricket and Major League Soccer club FC Dallas.
Holmes said the company had many opportunities to get into F1 but it was only recently that it found the right fit and timing, with the sport seeing a spike in popularity partly due to the acclaimed Netflix series Drive to Survive.
The three races in America, including the U.S. Grand prix near MoneyGram’s Dallas home…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at www.espn.com – RPM…