Rich Energy CEO accuses shareholders of mounting “coup”

Storey’s tweet accused the earlier statement, which was attributed to ‘the shareholders who own the majority of Rich Energy’, to have been made by “minority shareholders”.

The tweet read: “The ludicrous statement by minority shareholders cosy with @redbull & @WhyteBikes is risible. Their attempted palace coup has failed. I control all of the assets of @rich_energy & have support of all key stakeholders”.

This tweet came barely 24 hours after the first one, which claimed Rich Energy had “terminated our contract with @HaasF1Team for 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 earlier statement from Rich Energy had claimed the original tweet was “Clearly the rogue actions of one individual have caused great embarrassment. We are in the process of legally removing the individual from all executive responsibilities. They may speak for themselves but their views are not those of the company.”

Haas F1 team boss Gunther Steiner confirmed earlier on Thursday that the team would be running Rich Energy branding as usual during the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

When contacted by Motorsport.com, a Haas F1 spokesman declined to comment on the latest developments.