Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton worked as a producer on the upcoming F1 movie starring Brad Pitt. Hamilton tasked himself with making the film as realistic as possible.
Hamilton worked with Pitt as well as Top Gun‘s Jerry Bruckheimer on F1, which releases in the United Kingdom on 25 June. The film centres on the fictional APXGP team, who were granted unprecedented access during race weekends.
They were able to set up their own garage in the pit lane at certain events. At last year’s British Grand Prix, they even lined up on the starting grid with their remodelled F2 cars, clearing the way before the meaningful racing action started.
Filming took place over the course of the 2023 and 2024 seasons. While many teams underwent rebrands in that time, editors ‘reskinned’ the F1 cars in post-production to maintain continuity.
F1 personnel had to ‘behave normally’ around Brad Pitt and movie cast
F1 fans were stunned at Silverstone 12 months ago when they saw Pitt and co-star Damson Idris in the back of shot in the media pen. They were carrying out their own interview scenes.
According to The Guardian, all F1 personnel – that includes media, team members and drivers – were under ‘strict instructions to behave normally’. That meant they couldn’t take a second look at Pitt and potentially disrupt a take.
Academy Award winner Pitt is one of the most famous actors on the planet. The drivers may at least have gotten used to his presence given that he appeared at multiple Grands Prix.
On Monday, most of the grid attended the film’s New York premiere. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was testing a GT3 car at Spa instead, while Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was also absent.
The F1 movie scene that had the drivers in hysterics at Monaco Grand Prix premiere
The drivers didn’t actually watch the film at the Radio City Music Hall, because they’d already seen it. They were invited to a private screening at the Monaco GP last month.
Most of them have been nothing but positive about it since that point. The sport itself has been a key part of the marketing operation, aware that it could attract new fans.
But it’s emerged that F1 drivers ‘burst into laughter’ at one scene depicting a crash at Monza. The accident was partly based on Romain Grosjean’s infamous, fiery shunt in Bahrain.
Clearly, they felt it was overly dramatised. That could be an indication that the film will split opinion among the sport’s regular viewers.
