The American-owned Haas F1 team's recent announcement of an NFT partnership with Opensea, the World's most popular NFT marketplace, has not gone down well with a section of Formula 1 fans.

The announcement on the 3rd of November brings the lesser-known F1 team in line with other Formula 1 teams, including Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull Racing, and McLaren.

Haas f1 team NFT collection

As part of the deal, the OpenSea logo will appear on their VF-22 entries of the Haas F1 Team. In return, OpenSea will produce a collection of Haas F1 NFTs. This is great news for the team, which as one of the less famous teams on the racing circuit, finds it hard to obtain appropriate partnerships.

According to Haas's f1 team website, the focus will center around developing a utility-driven collection to help fans enjoy a closer relationship with the team via Web3 experiences for their community of dedicated fans.

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal of Haas F1 Team, stated,

“We’ve waited to find the right partner in the NFT space and in OpenSea we’ve found exactly that,”

He went on, "To be guided by OpenSea on our collections and fan engagement opportunities, we know we’ll be in good hands as they’re not only connected to all the key players but they’re an industry leader with innovation at the forefront of all they do.”

In conclusion, he remarked,

 “It’s going to be exciting for us to take our first steps into the NFT environment and engage with OpenSea’s passionate community,”

Shiva Rajaraman, VP of Product at OpenSea said,

"We're looking forward to bringing innovative collections to life with the Haas F1 Team, building new experiences for their community of dedicated fans, and providing new ways for everyone to get even closer to the action."

Some fans unhappy with OpenSea Partnership

In a follow-up article on the official Team Haas website, the team stated that not all fans are happy with the new NFT partnership and that they have come in for considerable criticism.

At the forefront of the negative reaction, according to the report, are fans who believe that NFTs are bad for the environment. This sentiment, especially amongst Gen Z fans, continues to harm the overall adoption of NFTs.

Afterthoughts on Haas F1 OpenSea

The Haas F1 team is not the first nor last F1 team to partner with Web3 companies. The steps into the NFT space with OpenSea are needed to keep up with the times.

Moreover, as fans realize the efforts made by many NFT and Web3 startups to address environmental issues, there will be fewer naysayers. These include Ethereum's recent move to Proof of Stake, which is far less energy-consuming, and other new blockchains such as Polkadot and Cardano.

Finally, OpenSea, with its position as the number 1 NFT marketplace, will give the Haas F1 team a lot of exposure to a new and dedicated fan base.