Haas responds to sponsor's claims of split

Haas have rubbished claims from Rich Energy that the drinks company has terminated its contract as the team's title sponsor.

Rich Energy's tumultuous 18 months or so connected to Formula 1 took a sharp turn on Wednesday when the company's Twitter account released a statement, claiming that "poor performance" had led to them terminating their sponsorship of Haas.

Kevin Magnussen finishing behind the Williams of George Russell in Austria last time out was cited as a key factor.

However, Haas team principal said their contract with Rich Energy remains valid.

Rich Energy claims split from 'unacceptable' HaasRead more

"Rich Energy is currently the title partner of Haas F1 Team," Steiner said in a brief statement.

"I cannot comment further on the contractual relationship between our two parties due to commercial confidentiality."

Rich Energy has hovered around F1 for more than a year, having originally tried to buy Force India as it fell into financial trouble.

Once that deal went the way of Lawrence Stroll's consortium, Rich Energy owner William Storey was seen with Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams at last year's United States Grand Prix, only for a deal with Haas to be announced shortly afterwards.