The motorsport world gathered to mark the industry’s annual achievements at the prestigious Autosport Awards in London and Gulf x Williams Racing were crowned winners of the inaugural Brand Partnership of the Year Award at the 36th edition of the ceremony.

The accolade celebrated Gulf and Williams Racing’s fan voted livery competition, in which supporters worldwide had the opportunity to shape history by selecting their favourite livery design from a line-up of four themes.

The judging criteria of the Brand Partnership of the Year Award aimed to recognise a brand that made highly effective use of a motorsport platform to convey its brand message and to add value to the team, driver or series it partnered with. The winning entry showed high levels of creativity, scope and execution.

Across the fan livery competition, a huge 180,000 votes were cast across three rounds, helping to honour the spirit of two iconic motorsport brands and ultimately delivering an historic moment across the Singapore, Japan and Qatar Grands Prix where the winning livery adorned the Williams Racing FW45’s of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant.

The campaign began in May with a knockout system that pitted the ‘Bolder than Bold’ design against the ‘Contemporary’ theme in round 1. Round 2 saw the classic ‘Heritage’ design triumph over the ‘Visionary’ concept, securing a place in the ultimate showdown against ‘Bolder than Bold’. Fans across the globe participated in the final vote, with an overwhelmingly close fight to the finish, ultimately seeing ‘Bolder than Bold’ as the winner.

James Bower, Commercial Director: “In partnership with Gulf, we’re absolutely thrilled to have been honoured at this year’s Autosport Awards, taking home the well-deserved Brand Partnership of the Year Award. It’s a privilege for our team and Gulf to be recognised for all the hard work put in by an enormous group of people, all with the objectives of bringing our fans closer to the action, actively engaging with them and allowing them to help shape the visual identity of the team. We look forward to many more exciting campaigns with Gulf as we continue to build on our partnership together.”

Sacha Davis, Vice President of Marketing, Gulf Oil International: “We are delighted that our partnership campaign has been recognised by the Autosport Awards and the esteemed judging panel. We continue to champion Gulf’s rich heritage in motorsport whilst placing our fans at the very centre of what we do. Without their support this would not have been possible. Thank you to Williams Racing, it has been great to be with them on this journey over the past year, and we are excited for the future.”