Formula 1: The Rich Energy ‘return’ went exactly as expected

Rich Energy announced plans to launch the Rich Energy F1 Fanzone on Wednesday, December 1. It went exactly as most Formula 1 fans expected it would.

Former Haas Formula 1 team title sponsor Rich Energy have long been discussing a return to the pinnacle of motorsport, Chapter 2 as they like to call it, after a disastrous yet somewhat comical sequence of events in the summer of 2019 led to them and the sport’s lone American team cutting ties prematurely.

But nothing ever seems to come from their Twitter “announcements”, even the delayed ones, about this long-awaited return.

Rich Energy CEO William Storey, who also serves as the CEO of Wolf Data Systems and the managing director of Wolf Jerky (#FeedTheWolf), stated before the 2021 season that the British beverage brand would be back in Formula 1 in 2021.

To avoid repeating what we’ve already written (you can read that here), let’s put in bluntly: the 2021 season is now two of its 22 races from being in the books.

And for months, Storey has been publicizing a return for 2022.

As usual, these “announcements” are all met with skepticism from 99% (or more) of the Formula 1 fanbase, given not only the overall lack of clarity and details in them but the fact that nothing of substance had ever come from any of the previous ones.

But one thing that Rich Energy did make clear this time around was a date.

Toward the beginning of November, they announced that they would be launching the “Rich Energy F1 Fanzone” on Wednesday, December 1, in an attempt to “make fans central to the team and make the sport more accessible”.

To avoid sharing the same hundred or so tweets we’ve already shared about their “return” (you can see those here), let’s put in bluntly: it’s now Thursday, December 2.

As far as anybody can tell, nothing happened.

Nothing about the Rich Energy F1 Fanzone was even brought up by any of the brand’s many Twitter accounts on Wednesday, and Storey himself failed to mention it.

Predictably, fans took notice.

So whatever ends up happening next, there is sure to be some serious entertainment value in it, and fans are going to keep talking — which, for all we know, might very well be the goal of the whole thing.

Whether anything actually happens remains to be seen, as has been the case for more than two years now.