Formula 1: The ‘billion dollar brand’ eyeing F1 return

A former Formula 1 title sponsor, which now claim to be a “billion dollar brand”, have supposedly not given up hope on a return to the sport after all.

Just when we all thought they had given up on returning to Formula 1 after blaming several teams for supposedly preventing them from doing so in 2022 and adding that “legal analysis is pending”, former Haas title sponsor Rich Energy have resumed insisting that they will indeed be back in the sport.

If you’re not familiar with how the Rich Energy-Haas relationship came to a premature end in the summer of 2019, it was a bizarre and somewhat comical situation to say the very least.

This “#Chapter2” idea has been a common theme of Rich Energy in recent years, though nothing ever comes from anything that they have to say about a return.

Ahead of the 2021 season, CEO William Storey posted multiple videos discussing the team’s alleged return, calling it the “greatest comeback since Lazarus”, among other things which fans basically laughed off since no details were ever revealed.

Of course, just before the 2021 season began and it was obvious that they weren’t involved, Storey claimed that the return would actually be coming in 2022 instead.

As the 2021 season progressed, the man who is also said to be the CEO of Wolf Data Systems and the managing director of Wolf Jerky (#FeedTheWolf) began hyping up that return to an even greater degree, leading to the usual — and justified — skepticism.

And as everyone expected, there were no signs of the brand at preseason testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya last week, and there have been absolutely no indications from anybody, anywhere, other than Storey, that a return is even on the table.

Naturally, it was during the first preseason testing session at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya when the claims that “several teams have objected to us returning to F1” arrived from the British businessman.

And now things have gotten even more bizarre — all for naught, of course, but still quite entertaining.

In legitimate possible new Formula 1 team news, former driver Michael Andretti is looking to join the sport in 2024 with a new entry, Andretti Global. His father, racing legend Mario Andretti, recently shared the news on Twitter that he had applied to the FIA and is now awaiting their determination.

But Storey replied to Mario, telling him to “Get in line, son”, as if the Andretti name is supposedly going to take a back seat to an ill-fated former sponsor which has effectively become a huge social media meme at this point.

There is nary a positive comment under any post by Rich Energy or Storey, as Formula 1 fans are all familiar with the usual talk by now. So this bizarre tweet didn’t really come across as being all that shocking.

But amid all of this talk about other teams supposedly preventing them from making their long-awaited return, Rich Energy have still found a way to indicate a 2022 return.

With Uralkali having been removed as the title sponsor of Haas due to the ongoing Russia/Ukraine conflict, a Rich Energy Haas VF-22 concept was designed and posted on Twitter, to which the brand replied, “Tick tock”.

https://twitter.com/rich_energy/status/1498768546918191107

They later shared a picture of the 2019 Haas, zoomed in on one of their decals, and inexplicably stated that “this is what a billion dollar brand looks like”, prompting sarcastic remarks urging them to move the car out of the way so what we could see which “billion dollar brand” they are referring to.

https://twitter.com/rich_energy/status/1499004145872875527

That they would claim to be a billion-dollar brand is only further proof that any talk of a “return” should be taken with a grain of salt, if that. But you already knew that.

And if you didn’t, you figured it out when Haas — without Rich Energy branding — turned up at the first preseason testing session at Bahrain International Circuit earlier this week.

The 2022 season is scheduled to begin on Sunday, March 20 with the Bahrain Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit, and we already know one team that won’t be there.