Williams and Gulf Oil tease major announcement ahead of Monaco Grand Prix

Sam Cooper
Gulf logo on the Williams FW45. February 2023.

Gulf Oil have teased an upcoming announcement with Williams ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend.

The historic F1 sponsor has built a close association with Monaco over the last few years as the previous two races when they sponsored McLaren, the Woking-based team sported a special livery in the Gulf colours.

Gulf have swapped teams this year, leaving one historic constructor in McLaren for another in Williams and while the sponsor logo and colour scheme was visible on the team’s clothing, there was a sense of disappointment among fans that the car itself remained largely the same colours as years previous.

That could change for this weekend though as Gulf have teased an announcement to come this Friday at 12pm BST (1pm Monaco time) ahead of the return of F1.

That time is 30 minutes before the start of FP1 meaning Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant could be heading out in some new colours shortly after the announcement.

Williams announced the long-term partnership with Gulf ahead of the unveiling of the FW45 in February with the Gulf logo featuring on the nose and the rear wing of the car.

“I am incredibly excited about this partnership between Williams Racing and Gulf, a renowned and trusted global brand, who have put their trust in us as a long-term partner,” Williams chairman Matthew Savage said.

“This signifies the strength of our brand and commercial offerings as we continue our transformation.

“Gulf and Williams Racing share an illustrious motorsport heritage and, together, we are making history with this partnership.”

Williams boss wants consistency from young rookie Logan Sargeant

Williams find themselves bottom of the Constructors’ standings following the opening five races but perhaps more optimistic than in years gone by given the performance of the FW45 so far. Whilst not translating into points, Alex Albon has shown an ability to fight amongst the top 10 places but the same cannot be said of his team-mate Sargeant who has failed to hit the ground running.

Sargeant is on zero points, level with only fellow rookie Nyck de Vries, and Williams team boss James Vowles is hoping to see more consistency from the American.

“Logan is here because he is fast, and he is fast,” Vowles told Motorsport.com. “But he needs to get everything under control and drive clean.

“In both qualifying sessions in Baku, he reached Q2. That’s consistency, that’s what you need. I have already explained to him that he is fast enough. He needs to use Q2 to double his experience.

“That’s also what you’ll see in the coming time, that he gets a bit better and better.

“I don’t expect him to match Alex’s pace. Besides, he’s had a series of circuits he’s never been to. But even as disappointed as he was [in Miami], there was only three-tenths between him and Alex. It happened to be a difference of seven positions then. But three-tenths, that’s how close it is now.”

Williams

Related Articles