The Haas team from open-wheel motor racing’s Formula 1 series has announced a new US-focused partnership with Japanese e-commerce marketplace platform Mercari.
Mercari branding will appear on the livery of Haas’ two F1 cars at four races through the season, beginning with the upcoming F1 Japan Grand Prix, which will take place from April 5-7.
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The other three races where Haas will utilize Mercari branding will be the trio of US events on the F1 calendar – Miami, Florida (May 3-5), Austin, Texas (October 18-20), and Las Vegas, Nevada (November 21-23) – in order to maximize Mercari’s exposure in its home country.
Haas team director of marketing Mark Morrell stated that the two companies were anticipating collaborating on “a range” of activations in both the US and Japan in order to promote the partnership with Mercari's US chief executive John Lagerling hinting that the growth of fandom of F1 in the US over recent years may have driven the partnership.
Haas is fully known as MoneyGram Haas F1 Team as a result of the team’s multi-year title sponsorship deal with payments and money transfer company MoneyGram.
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Agreed in October 2022 ahead of the 2023 F1 season, Texas-based MoneyGram activates around the US in particular with Haas, the sole US-based team on the F1 grid.
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By GlobalDataHaas, which is owned by machine tool magnate Gene Haas of Haas Automation, has a number of partnerships already secured primarily with US-facing brands including restaurant chain Chipotle, clothing brand Palm Angels, and global resorts and casino giant MGM.
The team’s dominant position over the US F1 market may soon be threatened however by the prospective entry of US motorsports organization Andretti into the F1 series.
Despite being rejected from entry to the series by 2026 over issues with finding an engine supplier, it is likely that the US brand will try again for entry by the 2028 season, a fact that could spell disaster for Haas, should Andretti muscle in on its US sponsorship market share.
Haas is already one of the less prosperous teams on the F1 grid, with its low budget in comparison to other teams marked by its lesser sponsorship value, so the entry of another US team to further dilute its financial share could be damaging to the team’s chances of finding high profile backers.
