Motor racing: Lewis Hamilton impressed by Brad Pitt’s speed in ‘authentic’ F1 movie

LONDON – American actor Brad Pitt’s speed is real and Hollywood’s Formula One movie will be the most authentic racing film ever seen when it hits cinema screens in June, according to seven times F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton.

The Ferrari driver said the Apple Original Films production had got the lot – “Brad Pitt, speed, thrills, an epic underdog story, drama, humour and a little bit of romance” – and would deliver on every level.

A two-minute trailer for F1, to be released internationally by Warner Bros Pictures on June 25 with Hamilton credited as a co-producer, provided a taste of the action on March 13. The film is scheduled to open in Singapore cinemas on June 26.

“Watching Brad drive around at speeds over 180 miles an hour was really impressive to see because it’s not something you can just learn overnight,” said Hamilton, whose season starts in Australia this weekend, in recorded comments at a launch event.

“The dedication and the focus that Brad put into this process has been amazing to witness.”

Directed by Joseph Kosinski of Top Gun: Maverick (2022) fame, the movie also stars Spanish actor Javier Bardem as the owner of a team on the verge of failure.

British actor Damson Idris, 33, is hotshot Joshua Pearce alongside ageing redemption-seeking racer Sonny Hayes, played by Pitt, who is 61 in real life.

Shot at Grand Prix weekends, Pitt and Idris drove F2 cars adapted by Mercedes and kitted out with cameras and recording equipment.

The fictitious APX team had its own garage and pitwall with cars positioned at the back of the grid before the races started.

They had 10- to 15-minute slots for laps between practice and qualifying sessions, drivers ready to go with tyres warmed and cameras rolling as soon as the track action ended.

Hundreds of thousands of fans remained unaware that a helmeted Hollywood superstar was lapping in front of them.

Kosinski said Hamilton, 40, had shaped the narrative and also wanted to be sure, early on, that Pitt could really drive.

“If Brad can’t drive, this whole film wasn’t going to work, and what Lewis was very happy to discover was that... Brad had a lot of just natural ability right from the start,” the director said.

“He rides motorcycles, which I think has something to do with it. But he’s just a very talented, naturally gifted driver which gave Lewis a lot of confidence that we might have a shot at pulling this off.”

Kosinski said filming, with remotely operated on-car cameras slimmed to a quarter of the size of those used on Top Gun, was “like a live stage play... shooting at 180 miles an hour literally. It was an adrenaline rush every weekend”.

Pitt and Idris had months of training.

“When you see Brad driving, that’s not acting,” said Kosinski. “He’s really concentrating on keeping that car on the track and out of the wall during all those scenes, so that’s something that you just can’t fake.”

Formula One sees the film building on the hit Netflix docu-series Drive To Survive (2019 to present) that Kosinski, 50, first watched during the Covid-19 pandemic and is now in its seventh season.

“I loved how the first season of the show focused on the last placed teams, the underdogs, rather than the Ferraris, the Mercedes, the Red Bulls – the teams that you see at the front of the pack,” he said.

“I thought that there was an interesting story to be told about an underdog team... just trying to win one race against these titans of the sport.” REUTERS