Rich Energy have once again teased a return to Formula 1 by tweeting a digital photo render of a 2022 car.
The image displays a side view of the back of the car, with the rear wing, the exhaust and rear suspension visible.
The livery features the black and gold of Rich Energy’s drinks cans, which also delivered throwbacks to the underperforming Haas car of 2019.
The Banbury outfit announced William Storey’s company as a name partner ahead of that season having finished fifth in the Constructors’ Championship the year previous.
Following a relatively promising start to the campaign, performances began to rapidly decline and, between them, Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean managed eight points finishes on their way to a dejecting ninth in the Constructors’ Championship.
This incurred multiple disputes between the two parties; Rich Energy, who had spent much of the pre-season declaring their excellence compared to fellow energy drinks company Red Bull, abruptly announced that they had ended their partnership with Gene Haas’ team.
Haas insisted that they still had a partnership with their sponsor, but three races later they officially announced the end of their contractual relationship with Rich Energy amid reports that the company had not been paying them, and removed the name from their car while retaining the black and gold livery.
Ever since, Storey’s company have teased their intentions to return, and rumours have previously, and rather tenuously, linked them to Williams.
They have frequently tweeted in recent days that a big announcement was inbound but, instead of an F1 sponsorship, they were announced as backers of the Jamaica Bobsleigh team at the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Their latest tease reads: “Rich Energy, F1, Chapter 2,” and has been met with ridicule.
One user replied: “The car launch nobody has been waiting for”, while another quipped “Yes boys yes on February 30 you guys will show everyone premium British drink best drink.”
Whether this new post from Rich Energy is truly indicative of a return to the F1 paddock remains to be seen, but they continue to turn heads and grasp the attention of race fans with their Twitter teases.