Lewis Hamilton served as Brad Pitt’s “driving instructor” during preparation for ‘F1’
F1 director Joseph Kosinski has revealed that Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton served as the “driving instructor” for him and Brad Pitt before filming commenced.
In the movie, Pitt plays former driver Sonny Hayes, who had to retire after suffering a severe crash. Decades after leaving the sport behind, Hayes makes an unlikely return to the grid. F1 also stars Damson Idris as Pitt’s teammate on the fictional racing team, APXGP. Other cast members include Javier Bardem, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, Sarah Niles, Samson Kayo and Kim Bodnia.
To provide authenticity to the movie, Hamilton was recruited as a producer and tasked with attempting to ensure F1 mirrors real life as a racing driver. He previously said that his role was “to try to call BS” and offer advice.
Kosinski is full of praise for Hamilton, who he said was “instrumental” in helping them make sure it was “technically” on the right path. He also played a vital role from a narrative perspective due to his experience as a high-flying rookie and veteran.
Speaking to Formula One, Kosinski recalled: “But the first day was really fun. It was me, Brad and Lewis Hamilton at the track together, all of us jumping in cars and driving each other around in sports cars, which was one of those things, I’ll never forget having Lewis Hamilton as your driving instructor.”
The director continued: “But what we learned and what Lewis was really interested [in] was seeing, did Brad know how to drive, right? Because if Brad can’t drive, this whole film wasn’t going to work.”
Kosinski also praised Pitt’s talent behind the steering wheel, noting, “Lewis was very happy to discover was that Brad had a lot of just natural ability right from the start, and I don’t know where he got that or if he was born with it, and he rides motorcycles, which I think has something to do with it, but he’s just a very talented, naturally gifted driver, which for Lewis after that first meeting gave him a lot of confidence that we might have a shot at pulling this off.”
Pitt had “that natural feel for grip in the car” which Kosinski said was necessary due to the “dangerous” nature of the film and said the actor was “fearless”. He added: “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, I think. I hope the audience feels that when they watch the movie.”
F1 is set for release on June 27th, 2025.
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