The Mercedes F1 team has decided to suspend its relationship with the crisis-hit crypto brand FTX ahead of the upcoming Brazilian Grand Prix.
Earlier this week, FTX announced bankruptcy after facing a shortfall of $8 Billion due to mishandled funds. When the crisis first came to light, various users started to withdraw their money and that saw the US-based company out of $6 Billion in just 3 days.
The Brackley-based team announced a long-term relationship with FTX in the September of last year and following the uncertainty about FTX’s future, the team has chosen to remove the company’s branding from its car.
.@MercedesAMGF1 has now suspended its relationship with @FTX_Official and the crypto exchange’s branding will no longer appear on the team’s cars and other assets this weekend in Brazil.
🔲Mercedes originally said yesterday that it was planning to display the logos this weekend. pic.twitter.com/FcJ8AOWdyQ
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) November 11, 2022
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FTX issued NFTs in collaboration with Mercedes
The logos of the crypto brand featured on the nose, cockpit and rear wing plates of the W13 and also on the race suits of the drivers.
Earlier this season at the Miami Grand Prix, FTX issued multiple Non-Fungible Tokens(NFTs) in collaboration with the Mercedes F1 team.
The team collaborated with a range of visual artists who created an attractive set of artwork for the fans to collect and trade on FTX’s official website.
Some of the proceedings of the auctioned NFTs went to the charity Ignite, which is a joint initiative of Mercedes AMG and Mission 44 to support diversity and inclusion in motorsport.
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Mercedes will keep a close eye on developments around FTX
The major hit suffered by FTX became even worse when Binance, a sponsor of the Alpine F1 team, refused to rescue FTX after just 24 hours.
The founder and CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has since apologised to its investors, consumers and employees and is still trying to find a rescue package. However, there are doubts that the company will get back on its feet amid concerns of a massive financial hole and mishandled funds.
This situation fuelled the speculation that the Mercedes F1 team which signed a multi-year deal with the company would also part ways and come to an early end of the contract. And as a first step, the team has chosen to remove the branding as it progresses into the season.
Going forward, the team will keep a close eye on the developments around FTX as the season comes to an end.
Speaking about the volatile crypto industry and the risk of F1 teams being associated with them, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said that it would have been wrong to ignore the potential opportunities in this industry.
It’s an area that will grow and one can not shut them down to modern technology, he further added.
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