The Official F1 2021 silly season *contains speculation*

[talksthetorque]

carl_w said:

Powder blue I think?

Yeah, looks like it on the second picture. Big first pic looks grey.
Still, a slow news week......

[CoolHands]

I’m not really very interested but anyway what’s the reason? Is it a one off?

[Killer2005]

CoolHands said:

I’m not really very interested but anyway what’s the reason? Is it a one off?

I think it's meant to be a one off but I wish they'd keep it. One of the better liveries of recent years..

[LaurasOtherHalf]

The Hypno-Toad said:

It certainly is a much better livery but how can “bold be back” when that livery has never been on a works McLaren F1 car and is more closely linked with Porsche in endurance racing.

Might make more sense if Porsche were planning to come back into F1 as an engine supplier and need a team to.....

Hang on.

Kidding!








Or am I????

Err,

A certain McLaren F1 in Gulf colours? Not an F1 car, the actual McLaren F1. See ROFGO collection

[The Hypno-Toad]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

The Hypno-Toad said:

It certainly is a much better livery but how can “bold be back” when that livery has never been on a works McLaren F1 car and is more closely linked with Porsche in endurance racing.

Might make more sense if Porsche were planning to come back into F1 as an engine supplier and need a team to.....

Hang on.

Kidding!

Or am I????

Err,

A certain McLaren F1 in Gulf colours? Not an F1 car, the actual McLaren F1. See ROFGO collection

You have to remember that The Toad is old and weak plus the drugs are not kicking in way they used to. For a moment there, I thought that when I snuck onto the grid with a mate at Donington in 1997 for the FIA GT Championship race I was imagining that there were GTRs in Gulf colour schemes on there. It also explains the model of the same car sitting behind in me in my collection of 17 racing Mclaren F1s. So thanks for clearing that up.

Clearly it was the two years that the Mclaren F1s drove in that championship and at Le Mans in the powder blue & orange paint scheme (rather than the dark blue/silver version.) without ever winning the 24 hours, were the pinnacle of Gulfs previous motorsport involvement. Obviously, those large number of stalls I see at FoS selling knock off Gulf/Steve McQueen/Porsche 917 leather jackets and t shirts to old men who believe they are cool, are on a hiding to nothing. As its now not the most iconic use of the Gulf brand, how are they all still in business?

And I put the word 'works' in front of Mclaren F1 car because I have a slight memory of someone running a M23 in Gulf markings as one off at race in the mid-70s (South Africa?) and I didn't want anyone being ridiculously pedantic about a lighthearted post if I was wrong. But I guess I learned my lesson there.

Edited by The Hypno-Toad on Monday 17th May 00:37

[Jinba Ittai]

I think the livery is fantastic. I’m hoping that Zak Brown is dangling a carrot to show Gulf the sort of reaction and exposure they could get by upping their spend for next year. Gulf colours permanently from 2022?

I listened to Zak on Beyond the Grid recently, he has brought in over $2 billion of sponsorship into F1 over the years through his marketing company. Smart cookie.

[Sandpit Steve]

Nice looking car, but all that hype for a one-race livery?

From the way they were going on about it, sounded like it was going be a new £100m title sponsor.

Underwhelmed, a failure of expectations management from McLaren.

[SpudLink]

Sandpit Steve said:

Nice looking car, but all that hype for a one-race livery?

From the way they were going on about it, sounded like it was going be a new £100m title sponsor.

Underwhelmed, a failure of expectations management from McLaren.

People are talking about it. Isn’t that the very purpose of hype?

[Sandpit Steve]

SpudLink said:

People are talking about it. Isn’t that the very purpose of hype?

People are talking about Prince Harry too. Doesn’t mean he’s becoming more popular.

[honda_exige]

Sandpit Steve said:

Nice looking car, but all that hype for a one-race livery?

From the way they were going on about it, sounded like it was going be a new £100m title sponsor.

Underwhelmed, a failure of expectations management from McLaren.

I don't think many agree with you. It was a big trending subject, especially on Reddit with exposure to millions. Also the associated merchandise sold out within an hour or 2.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

These sorts of things always bring out the “piss and moaners” on pistonheads.

Quite how a smart one off livery hats great exposure for McLaren can be a bad thing I’ll never know.

[The Hypno-Toad]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

These sorts of things always bring out the “piss and moaners” on pistonheads.

Following on from your reply to my earlier post, pot & kettle spring to mind.

[snotrag]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

These sorts of things always bring out the “piss and moaners” on pistonheads.

Quite how a smart one off livery hats great exposure for McLaren can be a bad thing I’ll never know.

Baffling.

It looks great, it invokes a bit of rose tinted jumpers for goalposts, wasnt it all better in the old days type nostaliga, it wont really have cost them very much to pull off and everyones talking about it.

I think it looks absolutely ace.




(anyone just carefully mentally note that the promo video was all Lando, not DR...)

[SpudLink]

snotrag said:

(anyone just carefully mentally note that the promo video was all Lando, not DR...)

Yes, I did notice that. Maybe it's their relative position in the championship. Or DR was on other duties on the day of filming.
Or maybe his contract means he doesn't have to do as much of the PR stuff as Lando.

[resolve10]

Sandpit Steve said:

Nice looking car, but all that hype for a one-race livery?

From the way they were going on about it, sounded like it was going be a new £100m title sponsor.

Underwhelmed, a failure of expectations management from McLaren.

McLaren have just sold a shed load of merchandise and got everyone's eyes on them for the most-watched race of the season. That in itself brings in money and pleases sponsors.

In addition, the overwhelming response seems to be that everyone thinks the car looks great, so a genuine no-lose situation. I think they've done a very good job. It might just be your own expectations that need managing,

[Brainpox]

Great livery.

I didn’t realise how many sponsors McLaren has now. Brown has done a great job turning the team around.

[paua]

Brainpox said:

Great livery.

I didn’t realise how many sponsors McLaren has now. Brown has done a great job turning the team around.

When they win a race again, I'll be happy to agree.

[liner33]

SpudLink said:

Yes, I did notice that. Maybe it's their relative position in the championship. Or DR was on other duties on the day of filming.
Or maybe his contract means he doesn't have to do as much of the PR stuff as Lando.

Lando is much more marketable especially to gen z

[HighwayToHull]

Am I alone in thinking that the orange on the sidepods and front wing spoils it? Should have been blue IMO, with just the stripe in orange.

Otherwise yes, nice livery. (Still prefer their usual one though.)

[MissChief]

resolve10 said:

Sandpit Steve said:

Nice looking car, but all that hype for a one-race livery?

From the way they were going on about it, sounded like it was going be a new £100m title sponsor.

Underwhelmed, a failure of expectations management from McLaren.

McLaren have just sold a shed load of merchandise and got everyone's eyes on them for the most-watched race of the season. That in itself brings in money and pleases sponsors.

In addition, the overwhelming response seems to be that everyone thinks the car looks great, so a genuine no-lose situation. I think they've done a very good job. It might just be your own expectations that need managing,

Martin and Crofty are going to be talking about it all weekend, great publicity for Gulf and McLaren. It’ll likely be on screen loads over the weekend too.