Gulf Oil
Williams F1 Sponsor
How Much Is Gulf Oil's Williams Sponsorship Worth?
We value Gulf Oil’s Williams deal at around $5m a year, since no fee has ever been published. That’s a house figure for a partner spread across the car, the crew and the junior programs rather than one with naming or principal billing, and the 2024 extension came without a number either.
It’s level with Kraken and just behind Duracell at Williams. Oil money runs far bigger elsewhere on the grid, with PETRONAS reported at $80m for its Mercedes title.
March 2026 table with PETRONAS' Mercedes title deal at $80m, the oil comparison used here.
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Insider · Issue 23
01 · The Last Race
Singapore by Salary
Pos
Driver
Pts
Salary
1
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
25
$70m
2
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
18
$34m
3
Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes
15
$3.4m
4
Lando Norris
McLaren
12
$30m
5
Oscar Piastri
McLaren
10
$13m
6
Insider+
7
Insider+
Our Take · Insider+
What Each Point Now Costs Red Bull
Global Partner
How the Gulf Oil Williams Partnership Works
The multiyear deal puts Gulf’s logo on the car, the drivers’ race suits, the pit stop gantry and the kit of key pit crew. It also stretches to the Driver Academy and Williams Esports, and no end date has been published.
The company on the contract is Gulf Oil International, the London lubricants and fuel marketing business the Hinduja Group bought in 1984, with Mike Jones as CEO. It’s private, publishes no group revenue and is separate from the listed Gulf Oil Lubricants India and the companies that own the Gulf brand in the US.
February 6, 2023 release listing car, suit, gantry and pit crew branding plus Academy and esports rights.
October 23, 2024 extension that kept the fan livery votes and added Reviva Coffee from 2025.
Gulf Oil International's leadership page naming Mike Jones as CEO of the London business.
Explains which companies own the Gulf brand in each region and covers the 2021 McLaren Monaco livery.
Why Is Gulf Oil Associated With Williams?
Gulf’s light blue and orange have been racing colors since 1967, and in 2004 it became the first oil company to trademark them. That’s what Williams gets to play with. The first fan vote on a Gulf design, Bolder Than Bold, drew 180,000 votes in 2023 and ran at three Grands Prix.
The deal also plugs Gulf into Williams’ own past. Its program for the Driver Academy is led by Damon Hill, who won the 1996 title in a Williams, and it puts young drivers through challenges and team workshops away from the car.
Gulf's timeline, including the 1967 colors, the 1975 Le Mans win, the 2004 trademark and the 2020 McLaren deal.
Covers Gulf's Driver Academy program led by Damon Hill and the 2025 Driven by Words livery in São Paulo.
Gulf's October 2024 release on the extension, citing 180,000 votes for the 2023 livery and its three races.
Gulf Oil Racing and Sponsorship History
Gulf Oil’s racing colors are older than the current Williams team, and the company came to Grove after a McLaren deal that began in 2020.
Gulf Oil and Williams F1 Questions
Gulf Oil started sponsoring Williams in 2023, after the two announced a multiyear deal on February 6 that year. It had been with McLaren before that, from 2020, and the Williams partnership was extended on October 23, 2024 with no end date made public.
Gulf Oil’s Williams deal is worth around $5m a year on F1 Salaries’ figures, because the real fee has never been disclosed. That money covers car, race suit and pit gantry branding, fan liveries and rights with the Driver Academy and Williams Esports, with no naming role attached.
Yes, the Gulf Oil deal reaches the Williams Driver Academy through a program of off-track challenges led by Damon Hill, and it works with Williams Esports too. The 2024 extension also brought in Gulf’s Reviva Coffee brand as official coffee partner, with its logo on the FW47 from 2025.
No, Gulf Oil International is a separate business owned by the Hinduja Group, and it’s the company behind the Williams deal. In the US the Gulf brand belongs to other owners, and Gulf Oil Lubricants India is a listed company that reports on its own.
Gulf Oil did sponsor McLaren. It signed in 2020 on a deal that covered the race team and McLaren’s road cars, McLaren ran Gulf colors at Monaco in 2021, and Gulf’s Formula Elite oil became McLaren Automotive’s first-fill lubricant in 2024. Its current F1 team deal is with Williams.