When Aston Martin Formula 1 re-entered the sport in 2021, after a more than 60-year hiatus, it knew it had to do things differently — or as Rob Bloom, chief marketing officer of Aston Martin F1 told me, “we embraced the opportunity to do things differently.” And not just from their previous stint in Formula 1, but from the way any team was showing up in the paddock at that time. In embracing the opportunity to be different, the team recently made a choice that felt new and fascinating to me: it hired 30-year-old James “Jimmy” Horne as the only art director in Formula 1.
In a sport where the term “Art Director” is almost unheard of within teams, Horne stands out. There have been famous creatives brought in for one-off projects — such as Richard Turley’s iconic redesign of the sport’s logo and branding in 2017. But until Aston Martin F1 tapped Horne, no team had a full-time art director on their org sheet.
Aurélie Donzelot, a Formula 1 communications expert and former head of digital media at Alpine and Renault Formula 1 teams, now writes the popular Racing Lives newsletter. She explains that the role of art director had existed before but in an undefined, often informal capacity, and was sometimes even frowned upon. “Art directors have definitely been used before in Formula 1,” she notes, but they were usually brought in under loosely defined terms, lacking a structured role. In an era of limited budgets and an underestimation of social media’s potential, the role was often an afterthought — if a thought at all. Today, that landscape has changed dramatically.
I first met Horne in May 2022 during the inaugural Miami Grand Prix. I was working on one of Aston Martin F1’s earliest on-site creator campaigns — before an intimate crowd of fifty fans, I hosted a fireside chat with four-time World Driver’s Champion Sebastian Vettel. Since 2021, Aston Martin F1 has championed the role of content creators within motorsport, being one of the first teams to provide creators with access to the world of Formula 1 — access that some seasoned journalists don’t even get on a day-to-day basis.
Clearly, they saw how game-changing that could be. But for Bloom, in this tech-first landscape, there is an understanding that design and a unified style is more important than ever. “There’s been an influx of social media and content resources in-housed across sports teams,” Bloom explains. “But in line with the vision for our brand that crosses sport, luxury, and lifestyle, we prioritize creative strategy and design in every aspect of how we show up.”
James Horne — better known as Jimmy, or to TikTok users, ‘ajimmyslife’ — describes his entry into the sport as a “happy accident.” A chance Instagram story led him to apply for a job at a small agency, which resulted in a ten-minute job interview ahead of the 2019 Australian Grand Prix. That interview set him on a path covering races in Canada, France, and the UK before landing a role making content at Racing Point in 2020 — the team that would soon become Aston Martin F1. The Aussie-born Horne, mulleted with a mustache, had a perspective that set him apart. He quickly saw the untapped potential in storytelling within the Formula 1 Paddock. As the sport’s visibility skyrocketed, he recognized the opportunity to invite a broader audience into the world — one that had previously felt unwelcome or unaware of the sport. In January 2024, Aston Martin F1 created a brand-new role for Horne: Art Director.
But what does an art director actually do in Formula 1? It’s a fair question, acknowledges Horne, and one he gets asked often. In some ways, “the explanation is in the title,” he says, “but there’s a lot more to it.” His role centers around shaping the artistic and content vision for the team, setting the tone, and directing execution. “The whole basis is to be creative, and that is incredibly cool to me,” he adds. More than anything, Horne is acutely aware that this is a team effort. His role isn’t about personal accolades; it’s about orchestrating a cohesive creative direction that brings together multiple disciplines within the team.
“The way that we show up needs to be consistent, creative, and innovative,” Bloom tells me. “The role of the art director is to ensure consistency across every aspect of our external marketing activation.”
And innovative, the Aston Martin F1 team has certainly been. With TikTok as a partner, the Aston Martin F1 team has been live streaming meet-and-greets with the drivers and members of the team directly from the paddock. Horne and Fernando Alonso — one of the two Aston Martin F1 drivers — embarked on a journey getting Alonso not just on TikTok but fully embracing the memes of the short-form social platform. And in no time at all, the oldest driver on the grid — at 43-years-old — has become the undisputed meme king of the Formula 1 Paddock, with his popularity gaining him 2.3M followers on the app, along with an award for TikTok’s Public Figure of the Year, 2023.
Interestingly, while Horne is the only art director in today’s modern paddock, there have been others who have previously held a similar role. In 2015, the Lotus F1 team partnered with Pharrell Williams. The cars, driven by Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado, carried both the Pharrell Williams name and the “I Am Other” brand. The collaboration was brief — just a few weeks — but it raised the question: what could have been?
Formula 1 comms expert Donzelot told me Pharrell was regarded as the art director on the project by many in the paddock. She wonders what bold ideas he might have brought to the sport had the collaboration lasted. However, she adds quickly, “I’m sure he would have been incredibly frustrated by the restrictions around imagery that we have in F1.”
Fast forward to 2025, and the digital landscape has transformed almost everything for the sport. Pharrell is back in Formula 1 — albeit indirectly. As the men’s creative director for Louis Vuitton, he is now linked to the sport through the brand’s title sponsorship of the Australian Grand Prix. But this time, he’s entering a completely different landscape. Social media isn’t an afterthought; it’s a primary engagement tool. The demand for high-quality, visually compelling content has never been greater, making the presence of a full-time art director within a Formula 1 team feel not just innovative but almost necessary.
The sheer volume of content created by sports teams today is staggering, and it’s only increasing. In this environment, storytelling isn’t just an asset — it’s a competitive advantage. And Horne understands this. Every team is in pursuit of relevance, constantly assessing where, how, and to whom they tell their stories.
Generally, when I ask teams and sports series, “Who is your audience?” I get one of two responses: either, “We’re still figuring that out,” or a carefully crafted breakdown of audience personas derived from extensive market research.
Horne’s answer is different. “Me,” he says. “I’m creating for myself.”
So, what does that look like? Well, one of the worst-kept secrets in the Formula 1 Paddock in 2024 (and there were quite a few) was the appointment of Adrian Newey as the team’s managing technical partner. The announcement, however, was more surprising in its simplicity and creativity. It was Horne’s first project as art director and even had a code name: Project Pencil.
For Horne, the key with this project was treating it almost like a driver announcement — but for a technical person — and making it feel really cool. “Steve [Cooper, creative lead for partnerships,] did some incredible drawings to emulate what might be in Newey’s notebooks,” he says. In Horne’s words, “less is more, and I’ve let the output do the talking.” But when you do less, “everything you keep in has to be so considered.”
Horne’s approach — creating for himself — is simple yet powerful. By focusing on what he himself would stop and engage with, Horne ensures authenticity in Aston Martin F1’s content. He doesn’t chase trends — he creates what he wants to see and consume. And as a result, the team has been consistently putting out compelling, innovative content that resonates with a growing and diverse audience.
This philosophy ties back to the core identity of Aston Martin F1. “This is the most inclusive, exclusive brand in world sport and that’s what makes it so special,” Bloom explains. The team’s approach to content reflects that unique positioning — blending luxury, exclusivity, and accessibility in a way that few brands in sports can.
