As speculated, it was announced at Williams’ livery launch on Monday that they would be entering a partnership with Gulf Oil, after the company parted ways with McLaren at the end of 2022.
When news of the potential partnership began to circulate, fans quickly predicted that the famous Gulf colours would feature on the team’s 2023 car; however, they were left disappointed.
Williams haven’t opted to use Gulf’s colours for the forthcoming season and have instead effectively retained their design from last season.
However, Gulf CEO Mike Jones has revealed that they would be open to Williams using their famous light-blue and orange colour scheme, something McLaren used on special occasions.
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“Of course, anything that we do in the future has got to be bigger and better than before,” Jones said.
“We have a lot of Gulf fans around the world. We have 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 fan’s favourite and we really want our fans to be part of that.
“We’re looking at different solutions for that right across the Formula 1 spectrum and we’ll be launching activation plans in the near future.”
With that in mind, perhaps the Grove-based outfit will run a Gulf-themed livery at some point during the season, given how popular it would be.
Williams commercial director James Bower explained why the team have stuck to a similar design from 2022, with the belief being that it’ll be “very effective”.
“We agreed on a presence that we will run throughout the entire season and you’ve seen that in the launch, we think that will be very effective,” added Bower.
“But you’ve just seen the car. There will be other points to come, other touchpoints throughout the team.
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“So, when you think about key moments throughout a race like, of course, refuelling, which links to the partnership and the pit crew and some other components.
“We are very much about how we take those iconic assets and bring them to life and then there is potential to ladder those up into some broader fan activations.
“What you’ve seen in the launch is really just the start and you’ll see more unfold as the team is on track and operating during the season.”