They’re at it again. Rich Energy have sent out another teaser of their potential intentions to return to Formula 1 with a tweet on the day of McLaren’s 2022 car reveal.
The energy drinks company became the name partner of the Haas team in 2019, with the Banbury-based squad having finished an impressive fifth in the Constructors’ Championship the year prior.
They ultimately missed out on fourth to Renault, but their form – having managed 18 points finishes between Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen – was enough to convince Rich Energy CEO William Storey that they were worth his investment.
Haas therefore launched a black and gold livery ahead of the season to symbolise the company they were getting into business with, and it felt like the beginning of a new era for the outfit that entered the sport in 2016.
Instantly, though, Rich Energy’s naivety as to the tough and competitive nature of Formula 1 was evident, and they frequently tweeted out that they were “better than Red Bull,” who are of course a fellow energy drinks manufacturer.
This came during testing when lap times are almost entirely unrepresentative, but it must be said that Haas made a promising start to the season with Magnussen finishing eighth in the Australian Grand Prix, the position his French team-mate might have achieved had he not suffered an identical pit stop drama to that of the year previous at the same race.
Thereafter, the team’s fortunes compounded more and more, and they became easily the second slowest team on the grid ahead only of Williams.
Their qualifying pace was nothing to scoff at, but they fell backwards during races – as exemplified by the Dane’s downfall in Austria.
With performances dwindling and aspirations falling at the wayside, Storey’s company bizarrely tweeted that they had ended their partnership with Haas before the team denied this, insisting that they still had a contract.
The British company would go on to make memes of the team they were sponsoring, but reports emerged that they had not actually been fulfilling any of their contractual obligations to Haas, and the pair would eventually split ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.
Ever since, Rich Energy have been tweeting teasers of their return to the pinnacle of motorsport, and the latest has arrived today – which just so happens to be the day that McLaren unveil their 2022 challenger.
“A day of announcements,” read the tweet, followed by the British flag emoji.
It attracted replies such as “you finally selling stock in shops that’s not short dated?” and a gif of Sergio Aguero’s Premier League winning goal for Manchester City in 2012.
It is clear then that Rich Energy are just as polarising now as they always have been, but exactly what they are referring to with their latest post – be it Formula 1, a different series, or something altogether different to motorsport – remains to be seen.