Rich Energy (yes that bloke) about to sponsor Williams?

[A205GTI]

So watching DC on the grid walk yesterday he approaches Claire Williams and guess who is chatting to her our friend William Storey (beardy) he then walks away and sort of shuffles around in the background before he is seen talking to Paddy Lowe in the background.

I know they are struggling for sponsorship so it will be interesting to see what happens?

BTW anyone actually seen this drink in the flesh?

[Big Nanas]

Ted covered this in his race notebook too. He said that Claire hadn't made it a very big secret, and their plan is to try to expand the 'Rich Energy' brand to new areas.
I think he said it's not in the UK yet.

Also, that as their colours are Black and Gold, we could have a return of that iconic colour scheme to the grid!

[thegreenhell]

I wonder if he's paying them enough for them to be able to put Ocon in the second car next year?

[Vaud]

I’m guessing Mercedes might fund Ocon via an engine discount.

[bobbo89]

Be a cool looking car with a black and gold livery!

Edited by bobbo89 on Monday 22 October 12:45

[thegreenhell]

Vaud said:

I’m guessing Mercedes might fund Ocon via an engine discount.

Both Mercedes and Williams have said they don't want to do this. Mercedes don't want to pay another team to take their driver, and a discount alone isn't enough for Williams.

[ghost83]

Out of interest where did it go wrong for Williams only a couple of years ago they were collecting podiums with bottas and massa and now they’re out the back of he grid

[andburg]

ghost83 said:

Out of interest where did it go wrong for Williams only a couple of years ago they were collecting podiums with bottas and massa and now they’re out the back of he grid

they changed concept for this years car and got it wrong
Ferrari/Renault made big gains on the PU so Williams could no longer rely on straight line speed to keep them ahead.

[DanielSan]

ghost83 said:

Out of interest where did it go wrong for Williams only a couple of years ago they were collecting podiums with bottas and massa and now they’re out the back of he grid

The Mercedes engine advantage hid some of the design flaws of the car, that's now gone away and they've gone from 2 decent but far from staggering drivers in their car who can collect points consistently to 2 drivers who have bought their way into F1 despite both really being good enough to be there.

[blackmme]

I’m just going to assume that having made every single mistake recently when it comes to being a credible F1 team from engineering to drivers they are going for the full set and now making disastrous commercial decisions.

So replace Martini with a company that apparently has the backing of multiple billionaires, why the hell not eh?

Regards Mike

[glazbagun]

I thought the Martini deal was drawing to a close this year anyway?

[AndrewEH1]

Wasn't he meant to be buying Force India last week?

Reminds me of the many jokers suitors that Ross Brawn wrote about when Honda sold up.

[ukaskew]

ghost83 said:

Out of interest where did it go wrong for Williams only a couple of years ago they were collecting podiums with bottas and massa and now they’re out the back of he grid

Even then when they were quick they were falling over themselves to make pretty much every mistake (strategy, pit stops etc) going in F1. They were comfortably the best of the rest but still messed it up on an alarmingly regular basis.

It's impossible to tell if they're still doing that as they are so slow now anyway so a) they don't get coverage, and b) an extra 5 seconds on a rubbish pit stop is basically inconsequential anyway.

[Some Gump]

^williams pit stop times have been near the top of the tree! Fastest.stop in 2017 and 4th ytd behind the big 3.

[IforB]

I have seen nothing that suggests that Rich Energy is anything other than a sham.

Dodgy website, accounts that show no turnover of any significance, let alone profit, no product on sale etc.etc.

It all screams dodgy as anything, but I’d assume Williams have done some decent due-diligence, or are they that desperate that they’ll use anyone to make it look like they are attractive to sponsors to others?

[sgtBerbatov]

AndrewEH1 said:

Wasn't he meant to be buying Force India last week?

Reminds me of the many jokers suitors that Ross Brawn wrote about when Honda sold up.

Reminds me of the time when Arrows had that "t-minus" branding on their cars because someone at the team took one of those Nigerian Prince emails as truth.

[m444ttb]

You seem to be able to purchase some sort of product in a can on Rich Energy's site. Another rumour I read on Joe Saward's green notebook was a possible BWT switch from Force India. Pink Williams next year?

[Steamer]

m444ttb said:

You seem to be able to purchase some sort of product in a can on Rich Energy's site. Another rumour I read on Joe Saward's green notebook was a possible BWT switch from Force India. Pink Williams next year?

I was looking at that this morning and tempted to take a punt on a slab.

Has anyone tried it yet?

Someone at Williams must have tried a sample, no? I remember I went to Sauber back when they were sponsored by Redbull and they were floating in the stuff!!

[Vaud]

IforB said:

I have seen nothing that suggests that Rich Energy is anything other than a sham.

Dodgy website, accounts that show no turnover of any significance, let alone profit, no product on sale etc.etc.

It all screams dodgy as anything, but I’d assume Williams have done some decent due-diligence, or are they that desperate that they’ll use anyone to make it look like they are attractive to sponsors to others?

Aside from your comments being potentially libellous, it is common to play sponsors off each other if you have multiple interested parties as it drives the price up, not down.

[IforB]

Vaud said:

IforB said:

I have seen nothing that suggests that Rich Energy is anything other than a sham.

Dodgy website, accounts that show no turnover of any significance, let alone profit, no product on sale etc.etc.

It all screams dodgy as anything, but I’d assume Williams have done some decent due-diligence, or are they that desperate that they’ll use anyone to make it look like they are attractive to sponsors to others?

Aside from your comments being potentially libellous, it is common to play sponsors off each other if you have multiple interested parties as it drives the price up, not down.

Libellous? I don't think so old bean. Have a look at their entry on Companies House and come back and tell me if they seem the sort of organisation that has the set-up to produce these drinks in the quantities required to support the costs of being an F1 sponsor...

Their website has been updated since I last looked at it and it does appear they are now supplying into hotels and bars, so there is a bit more than their website as a sales channel, but I still question their ability to fund sponsorship of an F1 team.

If Williams are using them as a tool to show interest and drive additional sponsorship, then as I say, fair play to them, but I get a strong whiff of merde de cheval about them. F1 has always attracted charlatans and dreamers. I guess Williams will have dealt with them many times in the past!