There is growing belief that Williams may have accidentally leaked a new partnership with Gulf Oil, after the British team added a Gulf sponsorship page onto their website, before quickly removing it.
Unfortunately, the removal of the page wasn’t fast enough, with news of the page having quickly gotten onto social media.
“UPDATE: Williams have created a partner page dedicated to Gulf – however, the partnership has not yet been officially announced,” wrote Decal Spotters on Twitter, moments before the page was removed.
Given the potential error made by Williams, it is now highly expected that the Grove-based outfit will announce a partnership with the company, meaning their 2023 livery could feature Gulf’s famous colours.
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The oil company haven’t hidden their intent on remaining in Formula 1 following their split with McLaren at the end of last season, with the company having written “Big F1 news coming soon” on Twitter.
“What are you most looking forward to in the new season?” they added in the post, dated January 13.
Should a potential partnership be announced, then it’ll likely give Williams a huge financial injection, something which will support the development of their 2023 challenger.
The team are set to unveil their 2023 car next Monday, January 7, with that predicted to be the date that the partnership will be officially announced.
A partnership of that magnitude will likely be music to the ears of new team principal James Vowles and both drivers, given how beneficial the famous Gulf logo could be in attracting fans.
Despite the potential leak by the team, neither Gulf Oil nor Williams have confirmed the partnership; however, why else would Williams be updating their website with a Gulf sponsorship page?
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Williams will be hoping to progress further up the field in 2023 after a frustrating 2022 campaign, where the British outfit returned to the foot of the Constructors’ Championship.
Despite this, Alex Albon enjoyed an excellent season and was fully deservedly offered a new long-term contract, meaning the Thai driver will be on hand in the forthcoming season to support rookie team-mate Logan Sargeant.
For Sargeant, 2023 is a season to adjust to Formula 1 and get an understanding of the championship, with it certainly being a year of development and settling in for the American.