McLaren and Gulf Oil have confirmed that their partnership "will come to a natural end" at the conclusion of the current contract, the close of the 2022 season.

The two companies have a long-standing history which began in 1968 and continued until 1973, with Gulf and McLaren enjoying success in both Formula 1 and the Can-Am series.

The partnership was later renewed at the Le Mans 24 Hours in the 1990s, and then in July 2020 under its current guise.

In May 2021, McLaren and Gulf unveiled an iconic special livery celebrating their historic partnership with a one-off design for the Monaco Grand Prix. The team carried Gulf’s trademark racing blue and orange colour scheme on both MCL35Ms, the race suits of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, the race team kit and across all team social media platforms.

"Our long-standing relationship with Gulf has featured throughout the history of McLaren Racing," said Zak Brown. "We have recorded so many iconic moments together, including our celebrated Monaco livery in 2021.

"Although this feels like a natural end point to the partnership, there is always room to welcome back old friends as we have done previously."

"We are extremely proud of what we have achieved with McLaren during our historic partnership," added Gulf Oil CEO, Mike Jones. "While we have shared many incredible moments, including the iconic Monaco livery and our bespoke sell-out merchandise collections, the true reward came from engaging with the unparalleled passion of the fans and putting them at the heart of everything we did. We will look back with great fondness at all the memories we made and are excited for what the future has in store."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by ARL, 30/11/2022 22:14

"As mentioned by Italian Job, I remember seeing the ad from Gulf about Bruce in Motoring News. It ran for several weeks. At the time MN and Motor Sport were part of the same stable so pretty sure the ad appeared in both. It was a very touching, simple ad with just a picture of Bruce and the statement "He was our friend."

I don't get the feeling that the current management of McLaren have anything like that sort of relationship with sponsors or drivers."

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2. Posted by BillH, 29/11/2022 17:42

"Well that's a shame and a bit of a surprise as that Monaco livery was very popular and must have raised awareness of the Gulf products quite a bit.
I suppose the marketing folks at Gulf looked at their return on investment and concluded that their usual day to day exposure via McLaren just wasn't worth it."

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3. Posted by Chester, 28/11/2022 14:50

"And the losses at McLaren just keep coming. After the Ricciardo debacle and many other driver push-outs over the years, I can say just dessert for McLaren."

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4. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 28/11/2022 13:40

"Perhaps Williams will be more accommodating with the Gulf livery details? "

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5. Posted by Italian Job, 27/11/2022 23:16

"Grovel! McLaren. Sorry Bruce."

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6. Posted by Italian Job, 27/11/2022 23:15

"Your saying "Formula 1 and the Can-Am Series" reminds me that after Bruce's death at Goodwood, Gulf took a full page advert in Motor Sport magazine (IIRC it was the inside front cover), maybe in other publications as well with the message "He was our friend". Hopefully Mclaren will get their act together enough to be able to renew the relationship - successfully."

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7. Posted by JamesD, 27/11/2022 20:17

"McLaren didn't produced a good enough car therefore the agreement ended 'naturally' ..."

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Gulf partnership with McLaren will not be extended

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