HRT F111, 2011

HRT F111 launch – first pictures

2011 F1 cars

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HRT have revealed the first pictures of their 2011 F1 car, the F111.

Team principal Colin Kolles said: “The F111 represents a significant step forward for Hispania Racing.

“We have made a big improvement for starting our second season in Formula 1 and what you see in our new car confirms Hispania Racing’s commitment to F1.”

HRT are looking for sponsors

The F111 was designed by Geoff Willis and Paul White. The team confirmed it will have an adjustable rear wing. However it will not have a Kinetic Energy Recovery System.

HRT aim to run the car for the first time in the pre-season test at Bahrain which begins on March 3rd.

Team president Jose Ramon Carabante said: “We feel really proud of the car our drivers will run this forthcoming season.

“Despite a challenging first year, we managed to finish on the 11th position in the World Constructors Championship. Now, we are very pleased to introduce the first specification of the F111, which means a huge design-effort from our side.

“This is only a first step as we are planning several updates during the season.”

The car’s distinctive livery was designed by Daniel Simon of Cosmic Motors. He said, “I miss fearless visual statements and large beautiful numbers on today’s racing cars.

“Playing with the restrictions of what you can do to a complex F1 body is fun. There are many don’ts, but I found a way to lay courageous racing essence on the car.”

However aside from sponsorship from Tata, thanks to new driver Narain Karthikeyan, the F111’s bodywork features few sponsors.

Instead the bodywork shown includes the messages: “This could be you” and “This is a cool spot”.

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    310 comments on “HRT F111 launch – first pictures”

    1. That looks horrible, and the worst thing is that it has a shark fin.

      1. Okay, after looking at it a bit more, it doesn’t look that bad.

        1. “the worst thing is that it has a shark fin”

          No the worst thing is it has a HALF shark fin, like the RB7 because of the rules.

          1. Did you see the Mythbusters episode where they did polish a s***!

            1. no…. what did it look like?

              An HRT?

            2. No, more sleek and glossy :p

          2. It looks amazing!!

            Now THAT is a livery. Well thought out and big numbers on the car, every car should have this feature.

            Love it!

            1. Yes, Daniel Simon’s point on what’s missing in F1 liveries now is spot on. The half shark fin spoils the car’s shape, but the livery is striking and splendid. Let’s just hope it attracts new sponsors.

            2. I have to say as over the top as this might seem, I agree with you that it’s a nifty livery. Proof that you can get attention WITHOUT fluorescent colors and silver.

              Also, SO SO SO SO agree with him about the numbers! More big, bold numbers! Numbers are striking and give us an easier time of telling which car we’re looking at.

            3. I agree about the numbers. Those are great. Other than that though it’s a terrible livery. It looks like an overdesigned sportsdrink or yogurt container… and doesn’t anyone find it ironic that the sidepod (which last year featured all their driver’s names) says “this could be you.” Is that a joke or what? They should just start on auction on eBay for their second seat.

            4. Liking the numbers. At last someone’s learning from racing in the States. Why not have the driver’s name in big letters though – the numbers are meaningless these days as they keep changing?

              But that chequered flag design is sooo lame. Clearly designed by someone who knows nothing about racing, it’s like the next Chelsea shirt having footballs all over it.

          3. That is actually false. There was an episode of Mythbusters where they took some crap, rolled it into a ball, and after a couple of hours gave it a polish like an shiny new eight ball.

            Nobody does very well on their first season, especially when they come in January like HRT did last year.

            I hope they do well. In fact I would love it if all the cars are so competitive that anything could happen the next race. This of course isn’t very likely, but you never know…

      2. No, it looks good, it also looks quick. I like it, I mean compare it to last year’s car which look rank.

        1. just a bit glitter sprinkled on it

          1. Well, that makes it a lot better than last year then, doesn’t it?

        2. it also looks quick

          Interesting even wind tunnel data can’t confirm whether a car will quick. :)

        3. This thing should be pretty fast…I think it might be powered by jet turbines, considering the warning in front of the sidepod intakes:

          “ATENTION
          STRONG SUCTION EFFECT,
          HOLD ONTO SOMETHING WHEN STEP HERE”

          Awesome. Just awesome.

      3. It’s the best livery I’ve seen on any car this year. Well played HRT, well played.

        1. it has ‘cool spot’ on the side.

          That makes it AWESOME :)

          1. Yup.. so you can push it without burning your hands! ;)

        2. The trouble I have with that is that since HRT had zero sponsors, they could have done almost anything with their colours. I mean, they do not have to please anyone apart from themselves; so why not go for somtheing a little more exciting or radical. Imagine a back-marker in stealth black – raw carbon fibre, just clear-coated. Or how about fluorescent pink! I mean, they could have done almost anything, they literally have a blank sheet (and very little money) to work with, so they should have blasted the competition out of the water on their livery. This is not very exciting when you see it in that context!

          1. Exactly! It’s so frustrating seeing another red and white car. As you said, they could have done anything with the livery really with having no commitments to any sponsors except Tata. We may still end up with even more red cars this year as well if Tony Fernandes loses his court cases and repaints his cars with AirAsia branding. Not to mention Williams getting red in the design from PDVSA. Sigh.

            1. Yes, the fact it is yet another a mostly white, with red and black, car is the biggest flaw to me in this livery. For the rest I like it a lot.

              The car now sports something like a real front wing, and the sidepods are pretty nicely undercut and rather narrow at the back. As I understand it, the high wide nose is good for aero, but not as good for the mechanical grip part, so maybe for starting teams like Virgin and HRT it is the best choice to go lower. Good to see a car from HRT before the start of the season, even if for now only a rendering.

          2. Exactly! [2]
            It’s an impressive improvement from last year’s car, though.

          3. are you guys serious? When have you ever seen a car with checkered flag pattern on it in F1? That, I’d say, is pretty brave for a backmarker. Personally I like it.

            1. I think that a chequered livery is going to confuse the front drivers when they come to lap them … “The chequered flag? already?”

          4. Naked carbon fibre would just be porn!

      4. Interesting they have a chequered flag painted on it…I wonder how often they’ll be seeing that during the race!

      5. Surely you must be joking. This is a major, visual, improvement over last years car. When I first saw it I thought it was surprisingly refreshing. Number on the side; love it. There are too many red/red highlighted cars now however… It makes me actually miss Jaguar! Is purple an illegal color in F1? They should call up UPS and see if they can get a brown car on the grid LOL. On the side it can read, “What can brown do for you?”

        1. And bring in Dale Jarrett to drive the truck? ;) Or maybe he can be their second driver!

        2. I mentioned that a few weeks ago. I think a UPS sponsored brown and gold car would look fantastic! Getting really sick of all the red and black, red and white, red and silver, etc. There are other colors!!!

      6. It looks like the BAR Hondas!

      7. That shark fin is beautiful! It’s perfect!

      8. ‘This could be you …but you wouldn’t want it to be.’

        1. You should put a sponsor on there – Godspeed Racing.

      9. Considering the 2010 livery, I think this looks considerably better

        1. Livery is OK but i’m pretty sure thats the only chequered flag that cars gonna see this season.

    2. Good work Keith, I haven’t seen that anywhere else online. Glad they’ve changed the livery and an interesting nose too.

      1. *cough* *nudge* That’s last years car *cough*

        1. haha, just kidding! Who’d a thought they’d have a car design ready.. it’s gonna be 3 weeks until they’re scheduled to test it though?

          1. It’s probably packed up and being sent to Bahrain by now. They certainly do not have the money available for a 3rd chassis for testing in Europe, instead focussing on getting the second car ready for a shake off before the Bahrain GP weekend.

            1. “Your Logo here”, HAHAHA!!

              But I quite like it.

            2. “Shake off.” Love it.

          2. haha, just kidding! Who’d a thought they’d have a car design ready.. it’s gonna be 3 weeks until they’re scheduled to test it though?

            Its a digital picture right?

            Is the car actually built yet?, needless to say I’m shocked…

            1. “Your Logo here”, HAHAHA!!
              But I quite like it.

              “This Could be you!” -> That cracked me up, because it probably could be your name on the side of a HRT car. eg, how often they change drivers lol.

              But despite that slight ironic phrase, it is marketing genius and I appreciate and love it. Similar to the BAR “look left, look right” but for advertising.

              All in all, the livery looks stunning, car design appears to have made progress in basic areas but I heavily doubt the parts will be nearly as refined as that of RedBull, because mm’s in alteration is where perfection is with motor racing. At least it will look good at the back of the grid.

            2. Definitely a CGI, just look at the tires.

            3. “This Could be you!” -> That cracked me up, because it probably could be your name on the side of a HRT car. eg, how often they change drivers lol.

              That was exactly my thought. Especially since that’s where they had their drivers’ names last year.

    3. Happy Racing Theme!! Finally… no more dull grey..

      1. I’m actually surprised. I think HRT has come up with the most original and eye catching livery this year. I still think the car will stink performance wise, but atleast they look good. (Which is actually better than Virgin, which looks crap and will under perform)

        ‘Your logo here’ & ‘This could be you’ really cracks me up. I guess they do not have a lot of sponsors, but at least they are putting media space selling ads on their vehicle.

        1. I’ve seen other iterations… most notably this one :)

          http://twitpic.com/3xnzj4/full

          1. Thats hilarious man!

          2. I’ve seen other iterations… most notably this one

            Perfect!

    4. All the “Your logo here”, “This could be you” logos are an interesting approach to getting advertising revenue, but why not?

      1. “this could be you!” haha its terrible: they should really not be there if that is what they’re having to resort to! And the car looks like the most backward of the lot that we’ve seen so far…

        1. Well it’s not the Eeyore approach…

          Eeyore sales pitch : ‘this could be you, but it probably wont be, I’ll probably be doing this pitch 10 races in… *sigh* ‘

          1. no its, not, its just embarrassing! “here we are, competing in what is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport, but we are so S*it that we can’t attract any sponsors. Neither can we build, design, or develop our own car. If you want to be associated with a miserably failure, you can put your name here, where it gets seen about once a race by the spectators on TV, only when it has broken down!”

            1. Or in other words – if you haven’t it made it yet, why bother trying anything at all, right?

              You know, last time I looked, attracting sponsors wasn’t the final say on anyone’s potential, not in my book anyways.

            2. If historis teams like Williams struggle for sponsors I think it’s a bit much to expect HRT to do a good job. Doesn’t Lotus just have Fernandes company logos? And same with Virgin. Advertising that a company could quite simply buy the space on it is the best thing they could do with the space.

      2. “This could be you”… driving if you give us enough money!

        1. COTD for Chris P!

        2. That’s more like it…

          1. I thought exactly the same thing.

            I was gonna say… they have’t seriously gone and put ‘Your Name Here’ messages on the side, but they have.

            Which, in essence, is actually a good idea. makes the car look full. It’s clear they still have no money though.

            What it is, however, if a very nice livery. Shame it’s in slightly boring colours. but, hey ho.

        3. @Chris P Seems you are closer to the truth than you realise ;)

          http://twitpic.com/3xna03/full

        4. It could simply say, “Got Money?” and if they really want to make the car go faster they should put “KIMI” on the side. Of course, this won’t make the car any more reliable!

      3. The “This could be you” and “your logo here” stickers are laughable. It’s like a DIY Blog site with Lorem Ipsum’s left all over.

        1. Randy you are underestimaiting the most hilarious livery in F1 history. Literally begging for sponsers on your car, HRT arn’t even hiding how desperate they must be. There not even attracting decent pay drivers, it’s amazing.

          Only prize they’ll be winning this year is the All Formula Hilarious Most Comedic Team Award.

    5. Do the teams realise that red doesn’t ACTUALLY make the cars go faster?

      1. Actually I believe the Concorde Agreement says that it does ;)

        1. ;-) sometimes it seems that way, but maybee it is not only because of the colour…

        2. Actually I believe the Concorde Agreement says that it does :-)

          Ha! I think you’re right!

    6. In a lot of ways the livery looks like a BAR and in other ways it looks like a Toyota, yet it somehow looks completely different. I like it!

      1. There’s a bit of Mclaren in there too.

      2. Simon took what those cars did as well and made it look special. Most improved livery, that is certain.

      3. yeah very much so, i like it as well

      4. Surprised nobody said Super Aguri tbh, wasn’t Mr Super (?) :P Aguri rumoured with this team ages ago… not saying he’s joining just because of the livery – and it might of been Team Zoran I’m getting mixed up with.

    7. Looks abit like the virgin, so glad its not grey!

    8. So, the big question.. what are they doing with the diffuser this year? Where are the exhausts!?

      1. Possibly something alike the lines of the Virgin?

        1. Lets hope so! I want them to be mixing it this year :)

    9. Wow, that came as a suprise! Now FI are the last to show their hand.

      The result is a bit of a strange car. Looks a lot like last years car as well as the GP2 cars (the Dallarra connection from last season).

      Combining the low and thin nose with the camera mountings like that, as well as the spiky V nose make me think back to the 2008 BMW.

      I quite like the spaces saying “please buy some space on this car”. A lot better than just being empty, altough it would be preferrable to have a real sponsor besides TATA.
      The back end looks pretty small, just like the Williams. I thought they would get an older type gearbox, but this should be quite an improvement for drivability.

      1. Tata are actually a great sponsor to have, and if they can hang on to them, it would be ideal!

        Maybe Tata should be backing FI though?

        1. That was why I mentioned them getting another sponsor besides TATA, never good to be reliant on only 1 company.

          1. Tata are a real sponsor alright, they have real money as much as the next corporate down the line, multi-muilti-billion dollar turnovers Tata Group are basically a goliath in a plethora of industries across the board. Car manufacturing being one of them!

            If I was sponsored by Tata, I’d be damned happy. The thing is, whats their interest?

            Motor industries being one of their interests, they own Jaguar, Land Rover, Daimler and a few others..

            .. interestingly enough they also own a company called ‘Hispano Carrocera’…..

            Hispano!!! Yes.. Spanish motor company!!!

            … ironically.. they make busses! :D

            1. So maybe getting the jaguar emblem on top of the car instead of the camera mount is not so far off then!

              I know they are big and have money. But obviously they do not want to use that to promote themselves (do they need that) instead leaving space for other sponsors.

              So who will it be? Please, …

            2. They could change their name from HRT to HCRT..

              Hispano Carrocera Racing Team :)

            3. Anshumaan Tuteja
              8th February 2011, 14:11

              We have buses manufactured by TATA all over India!! its kinda their forte in automobiles..but their passenger cars are getting better every day, especially after they bought Jaguar and Land Rover :)

      2. So TATA sponsor Ferrari and HRT? nice…

        1. Correct. Tata Consultancy Services sponsor Ferrari. Different division, same company.

    10. Now that’s a surprise xD I wasn’t expecting that… I mean WOW! and the livery looks great

    11. Christopher Vissing
      8th February 2011, 8:25

      That’s interesting! I like :)

      1. i really like the number location. It looks a bit indy lites but it the car looks so much more professional than the grey monstrocity of 2010

    12. “Your logo here”, “this could be you” and “cool spot” on the rear wing end plates – an entertaining way of saying “we have no sponsors!”

      Seriously though I actually like this livery, and the car looks good, though I’d be interested to know exactly how much of it is actually new.

      1. I think they should make up sponsors, like the Topgear team did on their 3Series racer. Imagine seeing names like
        Peniston Oil & Larsen Biscuits being displayed to the world!

        1. Genius idea.

          1. Yes! Would that be legal within the regs Keith?

        2. seconding this idea

    13. Can the team really afford a livery that complicated?

      1. Who knows weather they actually payed for it. The artist is on the car with his signature, it’s a work of art!

        Let us just hope it won’t be sold to the highest bidder ;-) that is the one slogan missing “you could be sitting here”

      2. What to you mean? Not having enough money to pay for the paint?
        Yes we know they don’t have a lot of money but what you are suggesting is just ridiculous.

        1. I think its more the paying the artist for the design, but I agree with you thats ridiculous suggesting they don’t even have that much money

    14. I think it looks good, certainly better than last years grey carp!!

      1. grey carp. My favourite kind. Tasty $:)

    15. Come on guys. We want more cars on the grid and all you do is bag them. They’ve made it to the 2011 season. That has exceeded the expectations of many already.

      1. Let’s wait until we see more than 3D renders.

      2. Hear, hear. All these moans about Virgin and HRT in particular. Then again, I don’t necessarily think these people do want more teams on the grid.

        1. Speaking for myself.. I want HRT and Virgin and Lotus on the grid and to do amazingly well. I sincerely do..

          I think they’ve all done well to get to where they are now, especially Lotus. Virgin ( AKA Manor ) has a great record of delivering year on year improvements.

          HRT we’ve yet to see, but they’re looking more and more serious all the time.

          However.. it’s hard not pass up a chance to have a laugh at the lower order teams.

          .. it’s much better that, than being shamefully disappointed because they couldn’t turn up to the grid. It’s all in good humour from my POV.

    16. This is a surprise. This livery is a massive improvement, but the red isn’t a great colour.

    17. Magnificent Geoffrey
      8th February 2011, 8:29

      I have about fifty quid in my shoebox upstairs, what do you think the chances of getting my goldfish image on the side-pod of that car are?

      1. A real size image maybe. But wouldn’t you rather go for the “cool space” (great idea) on the rear wing?

        1. Hmm… any chance we could see one with the F1 Fanatic logo on the sidepod?

            1. Like it a lot!

            2. That second version works surprisingly well – I would have thought the colours would not work. It does look a bit like it is from a cartoon this way though, but nice :)

            3. That is awesome AJ! My hat off to you sir :) love it

            4. Go on Keith, get in contact and find out how much it’d cost to get the f1fanatic logo on the cool spot!

    18. I actually really like it, even if it wont be very fast!

    19. I like it. Kinda like a modern interpretation of the ’60s Honda livery with a chequered flag motif at the back. Hope they can get some sponsors soon and none of them force their corporate colours onto the car. I’m quite glad the Tata logos aren’t in blue.

    20. that is absolutely vile.

    21. I wonder how much an F1 Fanatic logo on the rear wing endplate would cost me? After all it is such a cool spot…

      1. Wow Keith, your donate button must be working well!! :D

        1. Yeah definitely not got enough to go sponsoring F1 cars!

            1. That looks really good for a cool spot!

          1. If you’re willing to change from blue and green, to red and black, they might be interested.

          2. How do you know? Wouldn’t it be possible for one race?

      2. good thinking there!! but if you had that much money you’d rather buy the second driver spot than the logo :D

      3. Maybe you can ask and then we put up a special donation action to get the money together!

        I wonder how many companies in the world are actually wondering the same right now?

        This looks like a pretty effecive launch. No money wasted, a great livery and advertizing space. Love the idea.

        1. Usually if you have to ask for a price you can’t pay it:P.

        2. I think it a very effective launch too, and that F1Fanatic logo sure does look good ;) shame it won’t be there for real.

          But I really like this car, you can see there was thought put into it that is more than paint deep. I really wish HRT the best this year.

    22. That’s gonna win the Championship that!

      1. Even if it doesn’t, at least they’ll see the chequered flag at every race…

        They seem to have lost their ‘Spanish’ identity in the transition, but this new livery is really nice.

        I wonder if they’d change the colours of the red blocks if a company with, say, green or yellow as their corperate colours wanted to sponsor a certain part of the car.

    23. I actually really like the livery, the “this is acool spot” stuff is actually quite clever. I don’t know whether Bernie would consider it “getting the begging bowl out” though!

      1. I don’t think Bernie can tell the teams what paint job they give their car… yet ;)

      2. Yeah that’s what I thought…

        1. About being clever or Bernie being not amused?

          The team might be telling him to put something in the beggin bowl here. Just to stop it being embarressing.

      3. Regardless of finances, favouritisms and what not its a rather well presented car.

        1. True, it actually makes me more sympathetic towards this team, although I’ve always been in favor of the new bunch, HRT was very embarrassing at times. Not least due to their dull livery, which they’ve remedied (and some).

          But they’re supposed to be the underdogs fighting for the respect of the bigger teams. Lotus was always the best of the new guys, but the truth is against all expectations not only did all the new teams complete the first season, in two weeks time all three teams will have tested their 2011 cars.

          None of the new teams went the ‘easy’ way and went out to buy an existing team. I think they’re increasingly badass, let’s hope this years HRT will be closer to both the Virgin and Lotus and the lot closer to the rest. :)

      4. I like the message they put in front of the side pod air intake in the last photo.

    24. i like the new colors, far better than last year. i’d like to add that it’s insane to compare them to any established team… they came in 11th last year and that too w/o any upgrades on the car. I hope they do well this year F1 needs small teams too.

    25. Bloomin ‘eck – it looks amazing – from dullest to best looking car on the track in one step!

      1. I agree, it’s nice to see a small team having the guts to pull this off.

        I wish the rest of the grid could learn a lesson from this. One: how to have a decent livery. And two: how to not be so serious.

        Also, I love the bigger numbers, I wish more teams would do that, or the regs would change so we could get bigger numbers on multiple parts of the car like the golden era of racing. It makes the car look like a real racecar instead of a corporate powered land rocket.

    26. Actually, this is a really nice livery, the sort of livery a car down the order needs to get attention for itself… There’s lots of detail in it, so the more you look at it, the nicer it gets.

      The humour in the ‘This could be you’, shows they got a sense of humour and don’t mind advertising the fact they really need money!! There’s a lot of space left on that thing.

      Tata, is a solid backer.. so.. hopefully that will help attract others who are thinking about it to come forward.

    27. Livery is certainly a step forward (doing worse than last year was quite difficult)

      at a first glance was happy to see the team found some sponsors, only to realise they are not sponsors at all –
      not a fan of Kolles’ way of doing stuff but dont like to see another team disappear, no matter how small, so i hope they do get some backing by the start of the season

    28. I don’t actually mind it. It at least looks like a Formula 1 car and not a basic model made out of balsa wood. Having seen Simon’s work from the Cosmic Motors book (which I see gets a mention), it’s very clearly designed by him; in fact, it looks very similar to the one on the front cover.

      I especially like the way the car’s decals so far as THIS COULD BE YOU and YOUR LOGO HERE and THIS IS A COOL SPOT. Part of me hopes they race like that, not because they won’t have a sponsor to their credit, but because it would be a delightful (albeit unintentional) parody of commercialism in the sport.

      1. Have some anarchist and anti-globalisation NGO put in the money to sponsor the non-comercial idea!

        I agree with you. On the one hand I would love them to find some sponsors like this on the other hand seeing the car race with cool spots showing is quite something.

        In a way Honda did a bit the same when they went with the earth car idea, only this is a lot simpler, makes more sense and certainly looks better.

        1. Honda’s Earth Car experiment betrayed the way things were so very wrong at Brackley. Jenson Button had a fantastic 2006, picking up his maiden win and scoring more points than anyone else in the final half of the season. And with Lucky Strike leaving the team ahead of 2007, they should have been a sponsor’s dream. But then never found anyone willing to commit. Something was seriously wrong with the team at the time.

    29. Thnx for some great photos this morning Keith, well done again. Virgin launch yesterday was a disaster for the common fans sat here waiting, but F1 fanatic pulled it through.
      HRT have spent a lot of time and money to improve their image and it appears to have worked. I see you have lots of armchair critics who probably haven’t a clue as to how to even start an F1 team. So idiots aside, give credit where its due, the 3 2010 rookie teams have all come through at the start this year and have provided what looks to be a serious entry into the 2011 season. We shall see just how serious after the first few races, when the times will show how much closer or further away they are from the established big boys.
      Good luck to all the teams this year, and especially to the lower budget chaps, keep it in the zone!

      1. I couldn’t have put it better myself Abuelo Pal!

    30. Looks the same like the old hrt…

      1. you should have gone to specsavers

        1. They said at HRT it will be a completly new car… but there is just another painting…

          airboxes looks same then last year, the nose… just the wings seems to be different.

          1. That depends on who you believe. Karthikeyan said it would be all new but Kolles said it would be the F110 with a Williams rear end.

    31. When you think about the looks of that car, and think about Daniel Simon doing this, are there any chances of a 2nd or at least 3rd driver (someone like Milka in Indy?) looking like the racers in Simons “cosmic motors” book?

      They should have great looking team kit, get some nice “cosmic racers” girls into them at the GP. And possibly marketing the gear will be the largest source of revenue next to the Tata deal!

      1. That would be bloody brilliant BasCB!

      2. Yup! I would buy in to that.. :)

      3. Lmao! He doesn’t seem to be stalking you today bascb!

    32. I like the new colour scheme more than the shades of grey that last years car was.

      The sponsor placemarkers, on the sidepods and rear wing, are more akin to something Ive seen on the back of busses begging for adverts than an F1 car. It really shows their desperation to get some sponsors on the car. All I can say is all the best HRT!

    33. the-muffin-man
      8th February 2011, 9:00

      Well this was a pleasant surprise this morning!

      Love the looks and love the sense of humour! If this actuallu hits the track HRT could be my new favourite back-marker!

      1. I don’t think it’s a sense of humour. I think it’s Hispania actually trying to attract sponsors.

        1. the-muffin-man
          8th February 2011, 9:09

          Yes – by using a sense of humour! Have you seen the small writing in front of the sidepods?

          1. I read, that it also has “car ends here” at the back and “you are being filmed” close to the camera mount.

            Nice humour in that car.

          2. Yes – by using a sense of humour! Have you seen the small writing in front of the sidepods?

            I think that’s the extent of the humour. THIS COULD BE YOU and YOUR LOGO HERE would be funny on a financially-stable team, but here it looks desperate.

    34. A few things I’ve noticed from looking at it:

      – First of all, they have a double shark-fin. They’ve copied Red Bull’s square-backed shark fin, but the leading edge of the engine cowling is the highest on any of the 2011 cars. In fact, it almost touches the rear wing. It’s difficult to see because of the chequered flag motif, but it’s there.

      – They’ve also got a very steep angle on that front nose that tapers to a needle-point. It looks like a cross between the Virgin VR-01 and the Mercedes MGP W01.

      – Those sidepods are very tiny. They look almost as small at the Virgin MVR-02’s, if not smaller.

      – The back end if very odd. It collapses in and upwards at the same time, kind of like going from a horizontal plane to a vertical. There’s an odd bulge around the Cosworth logo, which leads me to suspect that the engine is actually right there, in which case it’s mounted quite high.

      – There’s also the nosecone winglets, which we haven’t seen on a car for a while. The front end in particular makes me think of the early BMW Saubers.

      1. I completely agree with you on the nose looking like a 2008 BMW with the horns on it.

        The back end might be sporting this years, extra small, extra low Williams Gearbox instead of having an older model (would that work without the KERS?).
        Only the engine cover (with GB cooling vent?) sticks out over it, using up all the space allowed around the aerea where nothing is allowed.

        Certainly does not look like last years car.

        Are the exhausts opening in front of the suspension in the roundings seen there? or even like the GP2 cars in the middle above the Gearbox?

    35. You know, with all the jokes about the Ferarri F150 and the Ford F-150, I can’t believe not-one has taken the opportunity to make a crack about the Hispania F111 and the obsolete fighter jet by the same name.

      1. I’ve had dozens of them on Twitter. No funny ones yet…

        1. Maybe they will use this new F111 to bomb the competition ;)

          That one good enough?

          1. Maybe they’re just gonna bomb this season? period.

        2. Comparing a Ferrari, with F-150 truck doing donoughts is funny in itself, cos you’re clearly comparing with a more inferior product..

          Comparing the HRT F111… to a Fighter Bomber!! Well…. they’ll be proud of that! :)

      2. I do think Adam Cooper had a remark about it some days back.

      3. Surely there must be something in the moveable wings area….(as the F111 fighter bomber had variable geometry swept wings for those who didn’t know)

    36. Quite nice! Real retro feel. Now just to get in that 107%…

      1. To be fair, the car actually looks like it could make it through to the grid.

    37. somehow this livery reminds me of lucky strike BAR Honda

    38. I can’t believe no-one’s commented on the best part of this livery…

      You can actually SEE the car number very clearly!!

      1. I was thinking the same thing Adrian!

        1. Virgin did it first. Williams, too, but that might not be a part of the final livery. And you can always see the McLaren ones. Everyone else tends to go for smaller numbers on the vertical fins in front of the sidepods. When it comes to invisible car numbering, the main offenders are Force India, who tend to put small numbers on the front wing in the space between the two vertical uprights because the car must have a number on the front of the car, but that narrow gap is too small for a sponsor decal.

    39. ‘This Could Be You’ how much for the seat?? they appear desperate now!

      1. also, i love the new livery! the chequered flag on the rear and being able to clearly see the car numbers!!

        HRT have one of the best liveries now just need a decent driver to drive the second car. should be Klien or Davide Valsecchi

        1. This is the Tron guy’s attempt right? Name forgotten…

          1. The car’s distinctive livery was designed by Daniel Simon of Cosmic Motors.

            1. That’s the fella! He’s even signed it underneath his logo! Awesome :)

              I fancy an F1 car with a comic book livery every year / race / quater.. a la BMW art cars… That would be something…

              How I miss Jordan’s Snake tipped cars… I loved those cars.

        2. And I just noticed how well those gorgeous wheels and the new pirelli tires go with the livery, looks fantastic!

      2. I don’t think they mean drivers. In fact they won’t at all. it’ll be a major sponsor. There’s always more than enough drivers trying to make it into F1 :P

    40. I know it’s not the topic but i got to tell ya
      Kubica is getting better he can move his fingers in the right heand.

    41. Autosports Jonathan Noble reports:

      It is understood that the F111 will undergo its last mandatory FIA crash test this week before final preparations are made to get in on track at one of the pre-season F1 tests.

      HRT are really in for tight schedules, aren’t they! Does explain why they don’t go testing with it quite yet.

      1. Is Petrovs car subject to more crash tests then any other car?

      2. HRT are really in for tight schedules, aren’t they!
        At least they’ll actually be at a test this year.

        1. USF1 had their car crash tested, remember? What happened to them, again?

    42. HRT just making it to 2011 with an inspiring “FAIL” livery

      Pro Drive, Lola ……..I just heard Rosberg dropping his hair gel in his bathroom

    43. I was ready to say “WOW!” but then I enlarged the image.

      The livery colours are really good, but that half shark-fin ruins the back end. I don’t really like the nose either. But from certain angles the car does look awesome, bravo.

    44. I love big numbers on a shark fin and chequered flag is nice incorporated in a design. I’m suprised they don’t have any yellow.
      Your logo stickers are a bit lame but if that will score them sponsorship why not use it.
      It looks much better then last years livery but then again that wasn’t that difficult to do.
      How much did they pay for that paint-job again?

      1. Actually i am not too sure they did pay for it. As the designer of it is quite a fan of fast cars and probalby not in desperate need for money, would he pass up a chance of actually designing an F1 livery?

        I know I wouldn’t!

        1. And it’s pretty good advertisment for him to design the livery anyway.

          1. Exactly, the “after” pictures are so strikingly improved from the “before” pics at the start of last year that it is a very big advertisement for the whole grid to do something more with their livery.

            Would be nice if it caused Sauber to talk with the guy about what he can do with white, red and black/charcoal for next year :-p

    45. Looks like we have a pretty car at the back.Thumps up!

    46. Like it!! ;) Your logo here!! :D

    47. Looks very nice looking, but very slow looking.

      Fattest rear end on the grid

    48. check out http://www.cosmic-motors.com/ what a crazy site! great sponsor!

      1. That was the gig that got Daniel Simon the job. It also got him employed to do some art for Tron: Legacy. It’s probably not really a sponsor, but more a way of recognising Simon’s contribution.

        1. Maybe a sponsor in the same way the HP logo and these banks were on the Renault last year. In return for their services they got a mention on the car.

          I think that car is a work of art, if Simon can put it up for sale or into a galery after the season it might be enough for him.

          Would you turn down the opportunity to do an F1 livery?

          1. In the same way that Vodaphone handles all the global data communications for McLaren. Decent sponsorship isn’t just about money for stickers, it’s a collaborative relationship to better both brands.

    49. They should have gone the whole hog and put their phone number on there…

      A straight checkerd flag motif, without red, would look very nice. Not bad as it is, though.

    50. ATTENTION
      STRONG SUCTION EFFECT
      HOLD ON TO SOMETHING
      WHEN STEP HERE

      found next to side pods

      1. It has something above the front suspension as well, can’t read it tough.

        1. “Do Not Sit Here”

          There’s also “Nothing Special Here” below the airbox camera…

          1. I half expect it to say “Wrong Way Up” on the undertray..!!

          2. LOL! really amazing livery, they are prepared for HD TV!

    51. Great livery!
      As Silencer mentioned – it´s similar to the old BAR Lucky Strike livery but still original enough.

      Will be interesting to see the livery in real pics instead of a 3D-rendering eventually.

    52. Wow, way to go HRT. Im liking that in some indycar looking sort of way!! Although i must say it wasnt going to be hard to make it look better than last years cars thats for sure.

    53. Wow, love this new livery! Very good looking from all angles. Looks a lot more ready than last year’s car.

    54. Is this Karthikeyan’s car? There’s a strip of colour just behind the cockpit that looks like it could be an Indian flag. If it is, it’s interesting that Karthikeyan has nominated to run under the 23 rather than the 22.

      1. 23 is considered a lucky and a really cool number in a lot of sports. I think Mike Jordan started the trend an then it started moving onto other sports as well. Unfortunately, Karthikeyan is going to need a whole lot more than the number 23 to make us think highly of him.

        1. It’s also considered to be unlucky.

    55. Oh “this could be you” is so embarrassing. Better to have just left it blank.

      Having said that, the colour scheme is ok and the book “Cosmic Motors” by artist Daniel Simon (who it would appear has done these pics) is incredible, highly recommended (if you like CG sci-fi vehicles).

        1. You can download them as high-res images – you know if you wanted to use them as desktop wallpaper or spot all the tongue in cheek warning messages…

          1. I was wondering, how you were able to read them!

            Thanks for the link, definitely downloading these.

      1. I think it’s meant to be tongue-in-cheek. At the very least it’s hilarious.

      2. Look inside the cockpit

        “Warning, this vehicle moves very fast, only for professional drivers”

    56. “This could be you” sponsor gumpf or suggestion that they don’t have another driver and if they did would likely change them on a weekly basis?

      1. It’s advertising open space for sponsors. Billboards that are blank often run a message like it (with a contact phone number) to try and pique the interest of companies that would like their image plastered on a billboard on the side of a highway.

    57. Nice. Good use of the camera on the nose. Hope they get some decent sponsors.

    58. The writing inside the cockpit says: “Caution. This vehicle moves very fast. Only for professional drivers”

      Now I’m confused. I was under the impression that this was an HRT driven by Narain Karthikeyan…

    59. Thanks to the placement of the cameras, I’m officially calling the F111’s nosecone ‘the Hammerhead’

    60. I love how Lotus use the smallest posible car numbers to save space for more sponsors..

      .. compare to HRT :D

      Also… Is it just me or does your imagine put ‘PO’ in front of ‘TATA’ motors? :D

      1. Perhaps the Post Office could be persuaded to sponser HRT ;)

        1. hahaha.. yeah, Next Day Delivery?? Nice!

    61. All the silly little messages are fun but Simon left out one required part of the livery:

      2011 F1 Sporting Regulations
      21) CAR LIVERY
      21.3 The name or the emblem of the make of the car must appear on the front of the nose of the car and in
      either case be at least 25mm in its largest dimension.

      1. It can always be added at a later date.

    62. I really like that design. It’s properly well thought out by Daniel Simon. Good work, and a MASSIVE improvement on last year’s livery.

      As for those complaining about the ‘Your Logo Here’ spaces, if they’d left the car blank, then everyone would have moaned about the lack of logos – at least this looks more like a finished livery.

      Why is it so embarrassing to be touting for sponsors anyway? Everyone knows they’re a struggling new team. Quit the needless back-marker bashing and cut them some slack IMO.

      That said… Lotus and Virgin will still be quicker ;)

      1. Actually, I just found time to actually read what Kolles said, and one thing that I found interesting is “it will feature the movable rear wing” – maybe if they have that, they could prove hard to pass for Virgin who don’t have it?

        1. Virgin do have it – all the teams do. Virgin and HRT (and Lotus) don’t have KERS though.

    63. “This could be you” and “This is a cool spot” should be replaced by F1Fanatic logo for free until someone pays for the spot. Hey, I’m just dreaming. But everyone here will support the idea. I’m 100% sure. :)

    64. Hey Keith, how about organising a small poll on the best looking car on the 2011 grid? Force India launches their car today, and after that we would have seen all the final car designs and liveries.

      1. Already in production, it’s a regular feature this time of year!

        1. No need to wait for Williams then?

    65. I think it looks brilliant. The chequered flag look is a bit obvious but also really nice and reminds everyone that at their heart they just want to race. It could well be the best white based liveryas the Sauber was underwhelming and if the FI livery is similar to its usual look then it’ll be miles better than that.

    66. Livery by Daniel Simon, I think it’s just silly to put that on a F1 car, even with and signature!! and why the name F111? is’t the 2nd HRT car. In a couple of years the car must me named F1666?

      1. More like in 655 years 8)

      2. I’m guess its an amalgamation of F1 and 2011. I’m not sure what last years car was called though, so I could be wrong :S

        1. Last year’s car was the F110.

    67. Going to be honest here. That’s possibly one of the most horrendous liveries I’ve ever seen. When I heard about Daniel Simon coming onboard (who’s worked on Tron amongst other things) and doing the livery I thought it would be some magnificent piece of art. Instead we have something that looks cheap and tacky and that wouldn’t look out of place as a plastic childrens toy. Granted, we’ll never see it on our screens because it’ll always be at the back of the field but I really had some hope for a decent looking HRT this year. Ah well.

      1. Wouldn’t look place on a childs toy because it captures the essence of a racing car.

    68. Its a very low front nose… They seem to be following a rather different solution to a lot of the other teams.

      Given their lack of testing, and last years lack of pace and development I can’t help but feel this car will be bringing up the rear again.

      At least it’ll look fabulous while it does

    69. I am pleasantly surprised and disappointed at the same time.
      The car livery looks a lot better than last year but the car itself doesn’t look much different at all. I will hardly call that a new car and they need more than a nice livery to make progress in F1.

    70. Looks like a livery for a F1 game promo. You can easily use it on the cover. Doesn’t have a character or soul. Both HRT an Virgin are boring designs. I was expecting more from them. How hard can it be? Chequered flag. Genius…may be for a first grade graphic design student. At least they could have done a competition for it.

      1. Lotus did a competition and 95% of the entries were horrid.

        1. And that %95 of them were far better than this:)

          It wasn’t a seriously managed competition by the way. It looked more like a fan-made thing or a PR move.

          Seriously what’s with that chequered flag anyway doesn’t that bother you? The whole livery looks like a basic design for the starters of an online f1 game and then you only change the color scheme afterwards, put some made-up sponsor names on it.

    71. let me guess.. american designers..?
      looks like an indy car

      1. i actually prefer last years.. :|

    72. Desperate for sponsors? Maybe F1 fans should do something like football. Fan owned team would be cool I think. It would be interesting to “see” how a F1 team is run, may even make the F1 more transparent.

    73. That’s a very good looking livery and the “your name here” decals are pretty cool. I hope they manage to fill them with some real sponsors along the way.

      I also like the quirky messages thrown around. I hope someone takes it to the next level and paints an F1 car on the style of Kulula’s “Flying 101” livery someday.

      http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/kulula_1.jpg

      1. That would be cool. It would also make the game of “spot the exaust pipes” a lot easier :D

    74. I’d love to have a drive test with this one. I’m really looking forward to that.

    75. If I were HRT, I would sell space on the car a la million dollar webpage:

      http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/

      Why not cheap tiny logos that will makes on the news from time to time? ( a closeup on the fromt wing, etc) no major commitment but a lot of them could make a lot of money!
      ( I reclaim 10 pixels for the idea!)

      1. That’s actually not a bad idea :)

    76. Why will they delay the testing if the car is ready? this will put them on the backfoot right from the world go.

    77. To me that front end looks pretty agressive! Definite aero improvement on last year.

    78. I’m sorry all I think about when I see this car is an old BAR Honda with a Lucky Strike sticker slapped on the side…

    79. Well the livery is better than in 2010 but I can’t say that I like it that much.

    80. Me likey! Me likey aloT!

      Even if it isn’t fast, it looks bloody nice!

    81. This has to be the most embarrassingly desperate livery design in the history of Formula 1. The “your logo here” and “this could be you” emblazoned all over the car makes it look more like an empty billboard with the owners trying to get someone to buy the space. I guess this car is a great a commentary on what Formula 1 has become over the last few decades.

      1. The car is an empty billboard, would you have wanted them to leave the spaces alone? There is nothing they can do, they need to attract sponsors to keep going.
        I don’t see how it is embarrassing to say “hey we need some financing here!” then it is to just keep quiet. Saying nothing in public wont make the problem go away, but we all know that it is there regardless of the writing on the car or not.

        1. Quite the contrary I would say. It’s rather brave of them. I fully respect them for doing it. Advertising an advertising space is the best way to do it, it gets people imagining how their company would look there.

          1. Yes it surely is a confident livery, and clever. Because with a car that looks as special like this and has a sense of humor it will surely get more coverage. People will notice it and remember it. It won’t just be the gray dot at the back, like it was last year.

    82. Good design i have to say. I didn’t think they would come up with anything, but they have, and i think it is rather good looking. But there is a lot of small text on the car, above the front suspension etc. what does it say?

    83. That livery has made me smile, those comments are brilliant! I think this is going to get them some sponsors at least.

    84. i think it looks cheap :\ but saying that.. atleast they have gone for something totally different to last year..?!

      1. the shark fin really ruins it for me though..

        its just missing the ‘lucky strike’ logos now lol

        1. agreed. Maybe Prodrive should buy their team out?

    85. RB7 shark fin, crazily complicated livery for a team that will epicly FAIL and I’m sure they will be 12th this year :-)

      Imagine how much slower it will be after the mechanics have spent all day trying to decorate it, before it inevitably gets thrown into a barrier because they’ve not had the time to look over telemetry and because of the curfew.

    86. My jaw managed to drop and smile all at once when I realized the text said “your name here” and “you logo goes here.” Very cheeky. I give them huge kudos for having the sense of humor to put that on the CG car and release it. More teams need to be able to have fun like this!

    87. Um, why does this car have a chequered flag? There’s optimism, and then there’s just plain stupid.

    88. Holy smoke…it’s looks like former BAR Honda, very refreshing liveries on HRT car.

    89. Looks better than last years, im happy for them to survive 1 year. Lets hope the new sponsors do them well enough to be up there with torro rosso

    90. Sweet livery!

      I bet there sponsorship deal with “This is a Cool Spot” inc. is VERY lucrative.

    91. letmeshowyou (@)
      8th February 2011, 18:13

      I actually really like that. I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that they’ll be last. Virgin may well be looking over their shoulders at the start of the season!

    92. This is model based on last years car, not a drivable car(which i doubt they are even close to having). Pretty sure this was released to ‘advertise the advertising’ in hopes they can pick up a sponsor before the season starts. If it doesn’t happen I’d say there is about a 0 percent chance of them making it to australia, if they even make it to bahrain with a car. HRT is pretty much finished.

      1. LOL, but you forgot to include the F1fanatic as your major sponsor as well as the MAG goldfish on the rear wing!
        But worst of all, why did you not include the 26 instead of the 23? :-D

    93. i like it and it is a huge change from last year

    94. Here’s another F1F sponsored HRT…

      1. Sorry, link didn’t work for some reason??

        http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/4607/hrtf111f1f.jpg

        1. Looks so much better when it’s not in red! Keith should inquire how much that sponsorship package costs ;)

    95. In looking more closely that is probably not even a life size model, some of the aspects of it make it look like a miniature car…

      1. yeah i get what you mean. the tyres look plastic.. :\

    96. Do you see the little arrows and letters all around the car? it says things like “DO NOT SIT HERE”, “THE CAR ENDS HERE” or “DO NOT TALK TO THE PILOT AT MAX G”

      http://www.f1aldia.com/11245/mensajes-ocultos-mucho-humor-nuevo-hispania/

      1. nice touches arent they?

        Read the link with translator, but it is pretty obvious.

    97. I think if they worked in a yellow-orangey colour into the livery it’d look great because I love the checkers and bold numbers but the red, white, and black scheme is over-used. This year’s GP2 Asia series has a red, white, and black Coloni car, a red, white, and black Racing Engineering car, a red, white, and black Arden car, and a red, black, and white AirAsia car.

    98. Best livery of 2011!!! looks like a real racing car.
      I think they are clever on that. They don`t have the resources, but they can make the best looking car,

    99. wow guess HRT got sick of not seeing a the checkered flag. had to paint one on there car
      ;)

      1. Or maybe they want to help their competitors, Virgin to see the chequered flag more often.

    100. I don’t get this jokes about getting the checkered flag.
      In 2010 HRT saw the checkered flag more than Virgin and Sauber and the same number of times as Lotus.

    101. im liking the livery looks great but im not sure it will be up to much out on the circuits.as they had no upgrades last year but the car looks great for this up coming season.

    102. That is last years car, with upgrades, nothing new.

    103. What more can you ask for? The design really rocks. I was an avid collector of this stuff. I’m going to wait that over the market. Do you have more designs? Love it.

    104. Chequers…really? How cliche is that.

      I’m sorry but this just looks like a terrible rFactor fantasy livery or a fake knock-off F1 car you see in a market.

      It’s great they’ve got a designer in to do the livery, but he clearly doesn’t know much about F1/motorsport or how livery design has evolved over the years, because this is just generic motorsport slapped on a car.

      Yet again it’s another white and red car as well. I remember in 2007 when commentators et al struggled to tell the Mclaren and Force India apart in the background of shot, so I’m pretty certain this would have a similar problem.

      The worst thing though are the mini labels, mainly because he couldn’t be bothered to press F7 for a grammar and spelling check:

      “Strong suction effect. Hold onto something when step here.”

      Some people seem to have jumped to conclusions that this *is* the F111. These are just renders. I think we should wait until the real thing actually makes an appearance before declaring something to be real and built!

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