Formula 1: The Rich Energy ‘return’ just took a hilarious turn

Rich Energy’s alleged “return” to Formula 1 took another hilarious turn on Sunday afternoon ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Everybody’s favorite former Haas Formula 1 team title sponsor, Rich Energy, have been saying for several months that they will be making a return to the sport.

It was a “return” that was allegedly supposed to have happened to ahead of the 2021 season, according to multiple “announcements” about the matter from William Storey on Twitter back in the winter months.

But after absolutely nothing went down in that regard, Storey, the CEO and founder of the British beverage company who also serves as the CEO of Wolf Data Systems and the managing director of Wolf Jerky (#FeedTheWolf), has recently been claiming that a return is on the way for 2022.

Naturally, the responses to these claims are always filled with skepticism from fans who effectively assume that, once again, this “return” (or “Chapter 2”, as Storey calls it) will be a great big nothingburger.

These “announcements” never contain any details that fans are seeking, and nothing has truly happened in terms of Rich Energy’s involvement in Formula 1 since the company cut ties with Haas prematurely, well before the 2019 season ended, after a disastrous yet somewhat comical sequence of events transpired that summer.

However, one thing that they did supply last month regarding the “return” was a date.

On Wednesday, November 3, Rich Energy announced that, in an attempt to “make fans central to the team and make the sport more accessible” amid their long-awaited return, they would be launching the “Rich Energy F1 Fanzone” on Wednesday, December 1.

But Wednesday, December 1 came and went with nothing said about this so-called “Rich Energy F1 Fanzone”, and as you might expect, many fans sought out this very tweet on this date (and in the days that followed) and left some very interesting replies.

On Sunday, December 5, however, Rich Energy tweeted the following, indicating that the “Rich Energy Fanzone” is now available.

But after all the hype, this turned out to be nothing more than a link to their new website, a website which had already been up and running with products for sale since Friday, November 5 anyway.

Is this really what fans were waiting for?

I’m not sure about you, but I generally don’t think of drinking or buying a beverage when I hear the word “Fanzone”. Of course, having said that, I probably will from now on after this latest interesting turn of events.

Predictably, the replies to this “announcement” did not disappoint.

https://twitter.com/Posyfish/status/1467542457541869579

Many assume that this whole thing is nothing more than a publicity stunt to get more people to purchase the drink, and you can’t blame them; things certainly appear that way.

With that being said, we do know for a fact that Rich Energy have recently upped their involvement in other forms of motorsport, so maybe, just maybe, they have something else up their sleeve.

Then again, maybe not.

Regardless, the entertainment aspect of one of the most bizarre Formula 1-related situations in recent years continues.