07/02/2023
NEWS STORY
Gulf Oil CEO admits that company's deal with Williams could echo McLaren and see the Grove outfit run a full Gulf livery at a selected race.
Be it the papaya and blue that adorned the Ford Mirages and GT 40s and the fabulous Porsche 917s of the late 60s and early 70s, or the 'plain' papaya of the works McLaren F1 and Can-Am cars of the same era, the Gulf livery has been sported by some of motor sport's most iconic race cars over the years.
It was with this in mind that in 2021, at Monaco, the McLarens of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo sported the iconic papaya and blue livery, much to the delight of fans old and new.
Speaking as it was confirmed, following weeks of speculation, that Gulf is to sponsor Williams in a multi-year deal, CEO Mike Jones admitted that at some point the Grove outfit could sport a full Gulf livery.
"Anything we do in the future had got to be bigger and better than before," he said. "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," he continued. "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."
Having enjoyed such a great partnership in the 60s and 70s, many were surprised when, having re-partnered in 2020, McLaren and Gulf opted to go their own separate ways at the end of last season.
"We had a great partnership with McLaren and some real highlights," he said. "The Monaco livery, I guess, being at the pinnacle of that.
"But our relationship with McLaren sort of came to a natural end," he admitted. "We'd achieved everything that we probably could with the McLaren F1 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," he continued. "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."
James Bower, the commercial director for the Grove team, says the 9-time Constructors' Champions are very much open to ideas.
"We agreed on a presence that will run throughout the entire season, and you've seen that today," he said. "We think that's going to be very effective.
"You have just seen the car, but there are other touch points throughout the team," he continued. "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."