Formula 1: The major ‘update’ after Melbourne — that never happened

Rich Energy indicated that they would receive a major “update” during the week after the Australian Grand Prix about their alleged Formula 1 return.

In yet another attempt to keep their hopes and dreams of a Formula 1 return alive, former Haas title sponsor Rich Energy tweeted last week that they had been told they would receive an “update” regarding their alleged return to the sport sometime during the week.

This “announcement” came following the Australian Grand Prix, the race in which the British beverage company made their Formula 1 debut with Haas in 2019.

Here is what they had to say.

Rich Energy’s stint with Haas did not last long, as the two sides cut ties with one another during the summer of 2019 after a disastrous yet somewhat comical sequence of events, one which included a number of legal battles.

Yet since the offseason between the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Rich Energy CEO William Storey, who is also said to serve as the CEO of Wolf Data Systems and the managing director of Wolf Jerky, has been claiming that his brand will be returning to Formula 1.

He hyped up a return for 2021, releasing a number of videos and referring to the alleged return as the “greatest comeback since Lazarus”, though no details were provided and, as many expected, nothing ended up happening.

So he began hyping up a 2022 return instead, and that only intensified as the 2021 season progressed. He launched the Rich Energy F1 Fanzone in early December as a part of what was described as an attempt to “make fans central to the team and make the sport more accessible”. But even now, nobody really knows what, exactly, this fanzone is.

As expected again, nothing happened for 2022. When it became obvious at preseason testing that nothing was going to happen, Storey blamed other teams for rejecting his brand’s return, claiming the issue was now “a matter for lawyers” and that “legal analysis is pending”.

And all of that led to last week’s alleged “update”, which never came.

We don’t anticipate it will ever come. Perhaps they forgot, sort of like what happened with the fanzone initially.

Or maybe we will find out there has been a “delay” and the final answer isn’t known.

Or, even more intriguingly, perhaps they will announce that a decision has been made and gone against them, thereby excusing their continued absence from the grid, despite consistent promises of a return.

It all really makes you wonder who — if anyone — “told” them they’d be receiving an update. But one thing is certain. The entertainment level of the brand’s imaginary Formula 1 “return” is unlike anything the sport has ever seen.