Lewis Hamilton gave Brad Pitt "scare of a lifetime" during F1 movie filming

Lewis Hamilton gave actor Brad Pitt the "scare of a lifetime" during the filming of F1, according to the director of the upcoming action drama. 

Pitt, known for his iconic roles in Fight Club, Moneyball, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, just to name a few, will star as Sonny Hayes in the upcoming film produced by Lewis Hamilton and directed by Joseph Kosinski of Top Gun fame. He will partner with the young driver Joshua Pearce, played by Damson Idris, in what promises to be bigger than Drive to Survive for the sport of Formula 1.

“I think that if Netflix was big, I think that the movie – and we discussed in Hungary the plan of commercialisation and promotion – will be massive,” Stefano Domenicali told Motorsport.com in August of 2024.

“We’re going to hit a target that is not yet present.”

While other films these days rely on green screens and digital imagery, F1 embedded itself fully in the sport, filming within the action of real race weekends held over the past two seasons. Via the fictional team Apex Grand Prix, both Pitt and Idris will be seen racing wheel to wheel alongside your favourite drivers. 

This is not only a huge opportunity for the two, but also a huge responsibility, so both actors were given extensive training beforehand so they could understand what a driver physically felt in a racing scenario. This included a drive with the seven-time world champion himself in Los Angeles.

“He gave Brad the scare of a lifetime in a lap,” Kosinski told TIME. “Brad was clawing at the windows, begging to get out.”

Filming for the forthcoming F1 film is conducted with the fictional APX GP

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

The cars in the film, modified Formula 2 cars supplied by Mercedes, are still potent machines despite them being dwarfed by their higher performance cousins in F1. So Hamilton, who is now contracted with Ferrari on a reported multi-year deal, ensured the actors were ready for driving such machinery, while also giving feedback on the realism of the script.

“The notes are so detailed,” Jerry Bruckheimer said. “‘When you’re going into that next turn, you have the car in second gear, it should be in third. I can hear it. I can hear the sound of it.’

“He opened all those doors for us into that world. We would not have been able to do this without him.”

The production itself has been expansive, with filming beginning in 2023 and continuing through to the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year. By incorporating a number of innovative filming strategies, including the use of advanced compact IMAX-quality cameras on the cars, the film team has been able to record racing scenes like no other film before it.

With a colossal budget of around £125 million according to the BBC, the film promises to deliver a visually stunning experience to audiences worldwide when it releases on June 25, 2025.