It has been a week of announcements for Williams, which on Monday first confirmed that it will have an official rebrand for the 2026 Formula 1 season.
This will entail bringing back its traditional W logo, plus changing the squad’s name to the ‘Atlassian Williams F1 Team’.
Then, on Wednesday, it revealed that it will run a special Gulf livery for this weekend’s Brazil Grand Prix to mark its partnership with the fuel company.
This will continue a strong history of Gulf-inspired liveries across all forms of motorsport in the last 60 years as it first gained prominence with the Ford GT40 in the 1960s. It has since been associated with numerous success stories, whether it’s the Porsche 917, McLaren F1 or the Aston Martin DBR9.
So, as shown with the examples, Gulf liveries are usually associated with sportscar racing, but they have still featured in F1 from time to time and here are the occasions in which they have.
Scuderia Gulf Rondini - 1976 F1 season
A special Gulf livery first appeared in F1 during the 1976 campaign, when privateer Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi entered four world championship races with a Tyrrell 007 under the ‘Scuderia Gulf Rondini’ banner.
The Italian’s debut came at round 10, the Nurburgring, where he competed in the dark blue Gulf colours, but was completely off the pace coming last of those who qualified. Pesenti-Rossi was 42 seconds behind polesitter James Hunt, but was more respectable in the race finishing 14th of the 15 to have seen the chequered flag.
He switched to the lighter livery for his remaining three rounds in Austria, the Netherlands and Italy. Pesenti-Rossi failed to qualify at Zandvoort, but did start the other two grands prix with his best result being 11th at the Osterreichring - meaning he failed to score a point. Those were his only four race weekends in F1, with his other competitive stints coming in the European Formula 2 Championship.
McLaren - 2021 Monaco Grand Prix
McLaren caused a stir when it revealed a striking blue-and-orange colour scheme for the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix, bringing a special Gulf livery back to the championship. The Gulf logo had already appeared on the papaya McLaren car since 2020, but a push from fans to do something extra led to it running the special livery in Monaco.
The Woking-based outfit certainly produced a performance to match, as Lando Norris claimed his second podium of the season with third behind Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz. That came despite Norris starting fifth, as the Briton benefited from polewinner Charles Leclerc not starting due to a gearbox failure following his qualifying crash, and Valtteri Bottas retiring on lap 30 because of a stripped wheelnut in the pits.
Daniel Ricciardo failed to match his team-mate though amid his tough time at McLaren, as the Australian both started and finished 12th. Nevertheless, feedback to the Gulf livery was so popular that it inspired McLaren to run a more vibrant car in Monaco the following year - although this was in its usual colour scheme.
Williams - 2023 F1 season
McLaren ended its Gulf partnership at the conclusion of the 2022 campaign, leading to Williams joining forces with the fuel company for 2023. That resulted in the Grove-based squad running the special Gulf livery, similar to the one McLaren had in Monaco, for the grands prix in Singapore, Japan and Qatar.
This was the result of a fan vote, in which there were four options created by the Williams marketing department called Heritage, Contemporary, Visionary and Bolder than Bold. Bolder than Bold ultimately enjoyed a narrow victory over Heritage following votes of over 180,000 and it made its debut in Singapore.
The livery’s opening race didn’t go terribly well, as Williams failed to score a point with Alex Albon in 11th and Logan Sargeant three places behind. Both drivers also failed to finish inside the top 10 at the following race, Japan, but Albon endured better luck for Qatar as he picked up two points in the sprint contest with seventh.
Williams - 2025 Brazilian Grand Prix
The special Gulf livery will return for Williams at this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, which comes after another fan-led project. This one was launched at a London event in July, in which fans were asked to submit words that best described what Williams and Gulf meant to them.
It was dubbed as the ‘Driven by Words’ campaign with the intention of running the livery in Brazil. There were over 140,000 votes and the words submitted have all been incorporated into the livery with ‘legacy’ being the most popular choice on 7,700 ahead of ‘passion’ (5,800) and ‘teamwork’ (4,100).
Williams boss James Vowles said: “As an iconic Formula 1 team with a championship-winning legacy and a plan to win again, we know Atlassian Williams Racing means so much to our millions of fans around the world.
“This incredible livery campaign with Gulf has really brought that to life, and it will be a privilege to race every lap in Brazil with the passion and emotion of our fans woven into this beautiful design on the car.”
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