Gulf open to running full one-off livery on Williams FW45

©Williams

Williams new partner Gulf Oil says it could run a special one-off livery on the team's FW45 this season as it seeks to go "bigger and better" than before.

In 2021, Gulf gained a significant amount of exposure and struck a sentimental chord with many fans when then partner McLaren entered its cars in the Monaco Grand Prix fully decked out in the legendary powder blue and orange colors of the oil company.

It was a massively successful promo operation that Gulf could repeat in some form this season with its new partner Williams.

"Of course, anything we do in the future had got to be bigger and better than before," said Gulf Oil CEO Mike Jones when asked if Williams could run a full livery in its corporate colors. .

"We have a lot of Gulf fans around the world, we have a lot of a lot of requests for our livery. We want our livery to be special.

"We're launching a number of fan-centric activation plans. We always feel that Gulf is the fans' favourite. And we really want our fans to be part of that.

"So, of course, we're looking at different solutions for that, right across the Formula 1 spectrum. And we'll be launching our activation plans in the near future."

Once a historical partner of McLaren in the 1960s and early 70s in F1, IndyCar and Can-Am, Gulf returned to F1 with the Woking-based outfit in 2020.

Jones explained why McLaren and Gulf parted ways at the end of last season, and what was so enticing about teaming up with Williams.

"We had a great partnership with McLaren and some real highlights," he explained. "The Monaco livery, I guess, being at the pinnacle of that,

"But our relationship with McLaren sort of came to a natural end. We'd achieved everything that we probably could with the McLaren Formula 1 team, so we started looking in terms of what was next for us within Gulf for F1.

"We talked a lot to Williams around their plans, not just for 2023 but for the future. And we really believed that Williams are going in the right direction, and we believe there are a lot of good things happening here.

"It's very attractive for us as well to have sponsorship across the Academy and Esports."

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Williams commercial director James Bower said the British outfit would be interacting with Gulf every inch of the way with a number of initiatives highlighting its new partner's brand.

"We agreed on a presence that will run throughout the entire season, and you've seen that today," Bower explained at the team’s livery launch on Monday.

"We think that's going to be very effective. You have just seen the car, but there are other touch points throughout the team.

"You can think about key moments of a race [weekend], like, of course, the refuelling, which links to the partnership and the pit crew and some other components. So we are very much about how we take those iconic assets and bring them to life.

"I think there's potential for those things to ladder up, as Mike said, into some broader fan activation.

"So what you've seen today is really just the start and you'll see more unfold as the team is out on track and actually operating during the season."

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Michael Delaney