Haas Formula 1 was "formally renamed the Rich Energy Haas F1 team for this season in deference to the British-based energy drink company it struck a deal with late last year," according to Scott Mitchell of MOTORSPORT. The team unveiled its new livery at a launch event in London on Thursday, using an '18 show car, "but released the first pictures of its new VF-19 online at the same time." Its first trio of F1 cars had liveries that stuck to the colors of owner Gene Haas's Haas Automation, "with tweaked levels of black, grey and red on each one." However, the VF-18 is "a complete departure from that," mostly black with gold Rich Energy logos on the front wing, nose and engine cover to "embrace its sponsor's black-and-gold colour scheme." It also features the "now-familiar" elongated "U" coloring on the nose in gold, while the Haas name adorns the sidepods and rear wing in white. The physical version of Haas' '19 car will not be seen until the morning of the first preseason test at Barcelona next Monday. Haas said, "This is the time of the season when you hope you've got designs right and you can be competitive straight away." Rich Energy has targeted F1 for over a year, "linking itself to possible Force India sponsorship for a long time, albeit being dismissed by the team." It "also made a last-ditch bid to buy Force India when the team fell into administration" (MOTORSPORT, 2/7).
