Formula 1: ‘A storm is coming’, but what does that mean?

Rich Energy teased that “a storm is coming” for their competitors as fans await a potential announcement regarding their return to Formula 1.

Rich Energy have been teasing fans all offseason that they will be returning to Formula 1 in the 2021 season after a disastrous sequence of events in the summer of 2019 led to the premature termination of their title sponsorship agreement with Haas.

Co-founder and CEO William Storey, who also serves as the CEO of Wolf Data Systems and the managing director of Wolf Jerky (#FeedTheWolf), has posted two separate videos this offseason regarding their alleged return after referring to it as the “greatest comeback since Lazarus” back in early January.

Storey noted multiple times that the doubters would be quite surprised. But other than stating that a return is in the cards, nothing was confirmed in either video regarding the team with which the British beverage company have supposedly partnered.

However, in the most recent video, the 42-year-old British businessman did reveal some interesting information.

According to Storey, the brand had explored the option of running their own team in the 2022 Formula 1 season after the sweeping new rules and regulations take effect, but that a friend, who wasn’t named, had agreed to take a majority stake in an existing team. Again, no team name was mentioned.

Rich Energy are supposedly slated to become a partner of that team for the 2021 season and then ultimately the title sponsor for the 2022 season.

This past weekend, Rich Energy teased that the upcoming week was a “big week” for them, posting a picture of one of their cars from when they were still the title sponsors of the sport’s lone American team in 2019.

Now they have furthered that claim, noting that “a storm is coming” for their Formula 1 competitors, again posting a picture of one of the Rich Energy Haas cars from two years ago.

Of course, right now, they don’t have any competitors in Formula 1, simply because they aren’t officially back in the sport. Whether or not that actually changes remains to be seen, which has been a theme over the past few months amid various speculation and hints about a potential return.

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Many fans have even written them off at this point, given their continuous announcements of “major news” being on the way over the last few months and the recurring theme of a lack of any real confirmation about anything.

But if a return for Rich Energy to Formula 1 in 2021 is to happen, one would think that the details would need to come out within the next week or so, given the fact that preseason testing is scheduled to get underway on Friday, March 12 at Bahrain International Circuit ahead of the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix at the same venue on Sunday, March 28.

Preseason testing had initially been scheduled to take place this week at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the host of the annual Spanish Grand Prix, but that was when the season was still scheduled to get underway on Sunday, March 21 at Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit with the Australian Grand Prix.

As a result of coronavirus pandemic-related restrictions, the Australian Grand Prix was booted from its spot as the season opener and postponed by exactly eight months to Sunday, November 21. It is now slated to serve as the 21st race on the record-breaking 23-race calendar.