Colin Kolles has engaged vehicle concept artist and Hollywood designer Daniel Simon to create a new corporate identity for the Hispania team.
A former VW designer, Simon has worked for the likes Bugatti and Lamborghini. He has been involved with several major movies, including Disney’s Tron:Legacy, potential summer 2011 hit Captain America:The First Avenger, and Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, which began life as the Alien prequel.
It remains to be seen what he comes up with for HRT’s chassis, but at least it shows that Kolles is prepared to try something new.
The German said: “Being offered a blank canvas by the Hispania Racing and with it the opportunity to bring to life elements of ‘Cosmic Motors’, was something I just couldn’t pass up. It’s going to be an exciting journey as Hispania Racing evolves and grows and I’m looking forward to the challenge of creating a strong visual statement for the team.”
Kolles added: “Recruiting Daniel Simon to be in charge of designing the new corporate image of the team is great news for everyone. Trying to find words to describe him would be simply to understate his achievements on Hollywood blockbusters. Hispania Racing is growing step by step, and this improvement is becoming a reality with the signing of exceptional professionals in different areas, as is the case with Daniel. Formula One has always been on the cutting-edge and leading technology and the latest trends, and Daniel´s futuristic ideas will provide the touch of nerve and innovation we all want to see in this sport.”
Intriguingly Simon’s blog gives a list of his favourite competition cars that includes John Barnard’s Ferrari 640/1, the Porsche 917K, Lotus 49, the 2003 Bentley Speed 8, Lancia Stratos, and the Thrust SSC.
Here’s Simon’s promo video. Is it just me, or is that a 1975 Brabham BT44B airbox about 60 seconds in?
Adam Cooper's F1 Blog 
Too fiddly and he won’t be given a chance to design shapes. They need a fine artist not a spaceship nerd.
Wow. The work of Daniel Simon is so incredible.
Most amazing he is from East Germany.
And was only 13 or 14 when the wall came down.
He never grew up on Star Wars and other “Fun” stuff.
If they get a car on the grid this will be the one to look out for!
Yes it is a Brabham air box. Well spotted
in the credits it also says music by Linkin Park………….. Evanescence maybe?
Looks more like a white Ferrari B3, 1974 version to me.
No doubt about it, Daniel is a Ferrari fan – the ’27’ is a dead give-away.
HRT would have been better served to hire this man as cheif aerodynamicist, rather than decorating the hospitaliy area.
@Noahracer the Ferrari is more vertical at the back. But else a good suggestion. The Brabham has the notch at the back. But both are more “flat” at the top.
I wonder how Evanesence’s copyright attorneys would feel about someone illegally using their music. Credits at the end of the video say Music by Linkin Park, but that is not so.
All the designs look like Anime Japanese drawings – I saw nothing new or ground breaking, nice try.
He likes the lotus 49? Great, maybe he can rustle up a nice green and yellow livery for the F111. There aren’t enough lotus based liveries on the grid.
I think the pic on his blog was Gold Leaf era!