A disappearing sponsor, rookie errors and a milk float: How Haas's bizarre British Grand Prix sums up a troubling season

A few days before the start of the British Grand Prix, the Haas Formula One team's title sponsors tweeted that they were terminating their contract with the team. The reasons they cited were "poor performance".

"We aim to beat @redbullracing & being behind @WilliamsRacing in Austria is unacceptable. The politics and PC attitude in @F1 is also inhibiting our business. We wish the team well," the tweet from Rich Energy drink read.

This is no small matter.  It reads strangely, the context is baffling but its tone is largely unsurprising. After the notoriously unrepresentative winter testing in Barcelona Rich Energy were goading their rivals at Red Bull, claiming they were quicker than them on their first day in F1.

Since the announcement last week, there has been contradicting statements from Rich Energy's CEO William Storey, some of the company's minority shareholders and Haas. To no real conclusion but to much confusion.

Before Rich Energy even entered F1 as a sponsor there were questions about the company and its product. Has anyone actually seen it for sale on shelves in the UK? Where is their money coming from? Did Haas do their due diligence? Now there are so many more.

Still, Haas ran their cars in the Rich Energy livery at Silverstone and the team said that they remained partners. No doubt there will be more absurd developments in this saga in the coming days and weeks.

These are all strange moments in a thoroughly disappointing season for the team. It was entirely characteristic of their unpredictable and bizarre 2019. As concerning  as the issues of sponsorship are (it's rather difficult to run a team without the money they bring...) an F1 team is judged on results. Somehow, their performances on-track have been even more worrying.

A month ago in France, famously forthright team boss Guenther Steiner declared it the team's worst ever race weekend. The grand prix before, Kevin Magnussen took to the team radio to complain that he was having the worst experience of his racing life.  If France was the lowest of the low then their Silverstone performance runs it close.

In Friday practice, Romain Grosjean made a mistake that would make even a Formula Ford rookie blush. He spun at the exit to the pit lane, clipping the barrier and breaking off his front wing. He then drove over it, heading the wrong way through the pit lane, then had to complete a lap with various bits and bobs hanging off before returning to his garage. Still, if you are going do something like this it's best to do it in practice. And Grosjean at least bounced back to make it through to Q2, unlike Magnussen.

Then came the race. Even up until Silverstone, qualifying and raw pace had been Haas's strong point. In Austria Kevin Magnussen qualified fifth. Five times in ten races they have been the quickest team outside of the top three.

Even now they are on average the fifth quickest team and Magnussen has made Q3 five times from 10 races. But their failure to translate one-lap pace into race pace has been extreme. You could describe the Haas VF-19 as a curate's egg, but given a hilly track, even one of those might put in better race performance. On average, Magnussen has finished 3.1 places lower than he has started in 2019 and Grosjean 1.2 places lower. Bahrain, Monaco and Austria were the lows.

Grosjean and Magnussen collided with each other on lap one at Silverstone and not for the first occasion this season. This time it ultimately forced both drivers' retirements. Steiner was predictably unhappy. "The best that our drivers could bring to the battle was a shovel – to dig the hole we’re in even deeper," he said after the race.

"It is not acceptable what happened. I was pretty clear with them after Barcelona, what not to do... Everyone works hard like hell. Then when we get a chance, and our long runs look OK, we crash into each other on Turn 5. It’s not acceptable," he added.   He has been involved in F1 a long time and is the type of character the sport needs. He is not being helped by his drivers.

Since Magnussen's eight points for sixth in Australia, Haas have had three points finishes - worth eight points - from a possible 18. They are only ahead of the pointless Williams team in the standings and are going in the wrong direction as their midfield rivals kick on.

Consistency has been the team's biggest problem since they came into F1 in 2016 but this season they are simply struggling to understand their car's issues. Managing tyres was thought to be the real issue but the problems run deeper. To demonstrate how big their task is, at Silverstone Grosjean reverted to the specification of car they used at the first grand prix of the season. They have lurched quickly from potential midfield leaders to a team in crisis.

To cap a torrid week off, William Storey seemed to target his trolling on his partners (former or otherwise), tweeting a picture of himself driving a Haas-liveried milk float, having recently described the VF-19 as exactly that.

After Haas threw away a dream start to the 2018 Australian Grand Prix with two dodgy pit stops, Steiner let rip.  “We could have looked like rock stars. But now we look like a f------- bunch of w------. A bunch of f------ clowns.” This was captured for Netflix's F1 documentary series Drive to Survive, through which Steiner became a star with his outbursts. Unfortunately, that frustrated statement could soon become Haas's motto for the 2019 season the way things are going.