F1: McLaren Unveils Retro Dual Tone Gulf Livery For Monaco GP 

McLaren had been teasing something big from its F1 team for over a week and now it is official. The McLaren team has partnered with Gulf oil, its oil partner, for a one-off Retrofied dual tone livery, which pushes the Gulf Oil branding as well which will be only used during the Monaco GP.  

McLaren is of course one of the all-time great F1 teams - with 8 constructors titles and 12 drivers championships to its name, the last one coming over a decade ago when Lewis Hamilton won his first world title in 2008. 

McLaren for the last couple of years after floundering has been improving, culminating in P3 in the 2020n constructor's championship. And it has kept up with the momentum in 2021 with it again being P3 in the four races that have gone by with it leading a rejuvenated Ferrari behind just Mercedes and Red Bull. 

It had been teasing a "Bold Is Back" matra. And now it celebrates its historic partnership with Gulf Oil with a two-tone livery which uses the papaya colour of McLaren with the Gulf blue. 

Bold is back. ????

6pm BST. See you there. #MonacoGP

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) May 16, 2021

"This will be McLaren's homage to Gulf's celebrated racecar design. We're enormous fans of brave and bold design, and the striking Gulf blue is among the most loved liveries in racing, a celebrated piece of culture which transcends the world of motorsport," said McLaren's motorsport CEO, Zak Brown. 

"Design has always been important to McLaren - you see this in everything we do from our return to papaya to our stunning headquarters, the McLaren Technology Centre. We're excited to exhibit this as a team and celebrate our proud association with Gulf in Monaco," he added. 

"Gulf and McLaren have a relationship that dates back to 1968 and is one of the most successful partnerships in motorsport," Mike Jones, Gulf Oil CEO, said talking about the partnership which originally began in the 60s for 6 years. 

"We are incredibly excited to pay tribute to this heritage with our classic livery design at the Monaco Grand Prix, the most spectacular and stylish event on the Formula 1 calendar. To see the reaction of both Lando and Daniel as well as the whole McLaren team to this livery has been really special and we are thrilled to unveil it to motorsport fans around the world," he added. 

The dual tone finish is a throw back to the day glow McLaren's from the 80s

Indeed, the Gulf and McLaren partnership is a special one, but before this McLaren was tied to Mobil, till McLaren's on track failings led it to Red Bull. Ferrari perhaps has been the most stable in this regard. Its partnership with Shell is over 90 years old and will be over 100 years old after the conclusion of the current contract. F1 teams work very closely with their oil/fuel partners to extract the most out of their cars. 

Mercedes has underpinned its success with Petronas which has created the class off the field engine in the hybrid era of F1, while Red Bull Honda has leveraged the expertise of Mobil. Similarly, Ferrari depends on Shell. Starting in 2022, the teams have work even closer with its fuel supplier because of the addition of bio fuel to maintain the efficiency of the engine. Since there is an engine development freeze, optimisations from the fuel partner will be one of the key ways engine performance will be maintained and enhanced.