Formula 1 fans hit with ‘disappointing’ news for 2022

Everybody’s favorite ex-Formula 1 title sponsor shared the “disappointing” news that they won’t be back for the 2022 season.

A bizarre Formula 1 sponsorship saga from the summer of 2019 continues to be kept alive nearly three years later by a certain individual’s insistence that his brand will be returning to the pinnacle of motorsport.

But he put that so-called “return” on hold for the time being.

Rich Energy, the ill-fated former title sponsor of the Haas Formula 1 team, will not be returning to Formula 1 at this time, with company CEO William Storey referring to the development as “disappointing”.

It’s a move that comes as absolutely no shock to any Formula 1 fan who has ever heard of the brand.

Ahead of the 2021 season, Storey, who is also said to serve as the CEO of Wolf Data Systems and the managing director of Wolf Jerky (#FeedTheWolf) hyped up Rich Energy’s supposed return to Formula 1 for the upcoming season, calling it the “greatest comeback since Lazarus” among other things that most fans basically — and justifiably — laughed off.

But as the 2021 season neared, he shifted the narrative from a 2021 return to a 2022 return. And as the end of the 2021 season neared, he began putting much more focus on hyping up a 2022 return.

But now that the 2022 season is right around corner and preseason testing is underway at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya — with Rich Energy cars notably and expectedly absent — he has conceded that there will be no return.

However, Storey’s reason for a lack of a return is interesting. He has claimed that several teams have “objected” to Rich Energy coming back to Formula 1 in 2022 and that legal action will be taken.

The brand’s Twitter account then released a separate “statement” among an ongoing “legal analysis”.

For those not familiar with the British beverage company, they signed a deal with Haas in 2018 to become the American team’s title sponsor from 2019. But a crazy and somewhat comical sequence of events during the summer of 2019 led to the two sides cutting ties prematurely.

You literally could not have dreamed up everything that went down to lead up to their bizarre separation.

Alas, there is no indication of any kind that any sort of Rich Energy return will be taking place in Formula 1 in the near future. And no, the “Rich Energy Fanzone” doesn’t count.

Formula 1 preseason testing for all 10 (not 11) teams is ongoing, with the third and final day of this particular session being today. Another session is scheduled to take place at Bahrain International Circuit, the host of the 2022 season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, from Thursday, March 10 to Saturday, March 12. The season is scheduled to begin on Sunday, March 20.