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New York Times
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Lewis Hamilton warns against rushing into making sequel to F1 The Movie
SILVERSTONE, UK — Lewis Hamilton has warned against rushing into making a sequel for the Formula One movie despite its box office success, saying it should be allowed to 'simmer for a while'. Seven-time F1 world champion Hamilton served as a producer on F1 The Movie, which starred Brad Pitt and was released last week worldwide. Advertisement Hamilton worked with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Joe Kosinski, the team behind Top Gun: Maverick, to try and make the F1 film the most authentic racing movie ever made. It has proved to be a commercial success, ranking as the No 1 movie worldwide and reportedly drawing in more than $140million in box office sales. Earlier this week, Variety reported that a potential sequel was being mooted, having ranked as the most successful film made by Apple to date. Asked by The Athletic if he'd spoken to Bruckheimer or Kosinski if there had been talks about a potential F1 sequel, Hamilton replied: 'Well if I had, I wouldn't be telling you right now, firstly! 'No, I saw someone talk about it, but it's like, we literally just finished it. So I think the last thing we want right now is a sequel. 'It's been four years in the making, it was a lot of work, particularly for like Joe. It's time away from your family, time away from your kids. And also, it needs to just simmer for a while. Let's enjoy it. 'I think the worst thing we probably could do is rush into doing a sequel. Most sequels are way worse. So we don't need to rush it.' The F1 movie took more than two years to film, and led to Pitt and co-star Damson Idris training to be real-life racing drivers, while the F1 paddock opened its doors to allow filming to take place on-site at grand prix weekends. It meant the real-life F1 grid heavily featured in the film, and there were a number of cameos for team principals including Mercedes' Toto Wolff, Ferrari chief Fred Vasseur and Zak Brown, the CEO of McLaren Racing. Hamilton was heavily involved in the writing of the script and the editing process to help ensure the film was as authentic as possible. The Ferrari driver said that if a sequel were to happen, they should 'really, really take our time in getting it even better,' and they should conduct an F1-style debrief. Advertisement 'I think right now, which I don't know if they've ever done before, but I've asked them to do a debrief,' Hamilton said. 'So like, let's review what we did, what we could have done better. I don't know if they ever do that in the movie business. 'But it's something I've obviously learned from here, so I'm going to try and apply that to future programs that I do.'
New York Times
29-06-2025
- Automotive
- New York Times
F1: The Movie's biggest twist? The tires are the breakout stars, thanks to Pirelli
Spoiler warning: this article contains details about the plot of 'F1: The Movie.' When the minds behind the new Formula One movie, Jerry Bruckheimer and Joe Kosinski, set out on their quest to make the most authentic racing film of all time, a very specific subject matter was inevitably going to be important to the plot. Advertisement Tires are one of the most decisive factors in F1 races. The strategy that each team chooses to employ, and how both its car and driver can manage the life of the rubber, serve as the greatest controllable variable for teams on each race weekend. From the very start of shooting, Bruckheimer and Kosinski therefore knew Pirelli, F1's tire supplier, would have an essential role in the film. But they didn't just want to ensure that tire strategy was properly explained in the movie. For the bespoke cars constructed for actors Brad Pitt and Damson Idris to drive for the fictional APXGP team, Pirelli had to supply tires and help engineer them, just as it would for any of the real 10 F1 teams. Mario Isola, Pirelli's racing director and F1 chief, had his first meeting with the filmmakers at preseason testing in Bahrain in 2023. He said it was 'quite a surprise' for Pirelli to end up being so heavily involved in the film, with the initial remit being to create a tire that could be used on the APXGP car that Mercedes had helped design. 'The first step was to understand which kind of tire we had to use,' Isola said. Because the filming demands would require the APXGP car to be driven at a lower speed than usual, Pirelli considered whether it would need to create a bespoke compound that would offer sufficient grip, particularly when actors lacking racing experience were behind the wheel. Pirelli designed a bespoke compound, only to realize it was unnecessary later on. 'We could use Formula Two tires,' Isola said. 'F2 tires don't use tire blankets, so the level of grip generated with the cold tires was enough.' The slightly smaller dimensions of the F2 tires also better fit the modified chassis of the APXGP car. Isola said Pirelli supplied one thousand tires to support filming, using F2 tires when the car was running on track and then fitting full-size F1 tires for garage scenes — again in the name of authenticity. Advertisement Just as the Italian tire manufacturer has a dedicated engineer assigned to each F1 team on race weekends to support their preparations, a small crew of three or four engineers was on hand to help the film production team prepare tires to the correct prescription, getting them set up with the required pressures. For the movie's crash sequences, Pirelli also provided information on how a tire would be cut and lose pressure. 'They wanted it to be very close to reality,' Isola said. 'That was a nice finding when I watched the movie.' Unlike the structured F1 calendar with long-planned race weekends and private tests, some filming had to be arranged at short notice, especially around the time of the SAG-AFTRA strike in 2023. 'We had to be very flexible in being ready with tires immediately when they had the possibility to film,' Isola said. 'It was quite a nice experience for our guys to understand what flexibility is sometimes!' Tires would be sent from Pirelli's facilities in Didcot, UK, and Milan, Italy, depending on where filming was taking place. In some of the film's pivotal race weekend scenes, strategy meetings led by the technical director (played by Kerry Condon) include Pirelli's infographics showing the planned strategy for the race. These scenes lay the groundwork for the film's end. When a red flag is called during the final race in Abu Dhabi, the fact that Brad Pitt's character, Sonny Hayes, has an extra set of soft tires available after his car failed to make it to Q3 plays a vital role in the closing scenes. 'I don't want to spoil the end of the movie, but it was interesting to see the conclusion of the race,' said Isola. 'It was quite nice.' Sky Sports commentators David Croft and Martin Brundle narrate the proceedings throughout the film, true to the real world. They discuss the advantages of using a soft tire at a crucial moment in the movie — a scene written with support from the experts and consultants on the production team to ensure it was as true to life as possible. Advertisement 'There are a lot of technical elements in F1 now and they are sometimes difficult to explain to people,' Isola said. 'They found a very easy language to explain to spectators. Some technical stuff is not so user-friendly.' Kosinski, the film's director, always wanted to carefully thread the needle between staying true to technical details without overwhelming newcomers. He felt Croft and Brundle's role was critical to strike this balance. 'What you notice is, if you listen to their commentary, very subtly, they do cover the basics of Formula One. They call a race so that if you're tuning in for the first time, you're getting those fundamentals,' Kosinski said. 'But at the same time, you're getting the detail and the specificity that engages the fans that know it all. 'I was really inspired by how they call their real races. And so we did a lot of sessions with them. I really think they're the unsung heroes of this movie. They kind of carry an audience that knows nothing through this story, but do it in a way that feels very authentic and is very much their own voice.' The film will provide a marketing boost to the entire F1 ecosystem that will resonate in the coming weeks and months. As in real life, Pirelli's branding stretched beyond the tires in the film, covering trackside advertising hoardings, the APXGP car, and even the suits of drivers and mechanics. 'That replicates what happened with the other teams,' Isola said. 'We said that all the teams have the Pirelli logo on the suits of the mechanics, the race suits of the drivers, support trailers, as well as on the car. 'If you look at the Pirelli stickers, there are more than the other cars because they were on the front wheel. That is not the same for the other cars! But we were happy to have it in addition.' Isola watched the film at the premiere in New York City earlier this month and thought it was a 'great movie' that would be 'very good for attracting new spectators' to F1. 'It's a Hollywood movie, as everybody said, but it's quite real,' Isola said. 'I was impressed by the final result. And also the role of Pirelli in the movie!'
New York Times
26-06-2025
- Automotive
- New York Times
F1 teams opened their doors for Brad Pitt's new movie – and sparked competitive paranoia
In their bid to make the new F1 movie starring Brad Pitt the most authentic racing film of all time, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Joe Kosinski were eager to get as close to the action as possible. The team behind Top Gun: Maverick went to considerable lengths to make the film as true to life as possible – and certain spoilers on how they did this in the plot are included below. Advertisement Pitt and co-star Damson Idris trained to become racing drivers, getting behind the wheel of cars that were designed specifically for the film. And seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was onboard as a producer to provide a keen eye (and ear) to pick out smaller details, such as ensuring cars sounded like they were in the correct gear for specific corners, or whether a certain tire strategy was feasible. But one of the biggest assets to make the movie this way was the ability to use the F1 paddock itself, the center of the sport's universe on any given race weekend, as a living, breathing movie set. F1's willingness to open the paddock doors to the film-makers on grand prix weekends helped provide a level of authenticity that hasn't been seen in other recent sports movies. The fictional APXGP team simply became part of the real-world travelling circus, complete with its own garage setup and hospitality unit at select races across 2023 and 2024. But Bruckheimer, Kosinski and co didn't stop there in their bid to ensure the film's 'sets' were as authentic as possible. They also made use of three F1 team factories in the UK to shoot scenes and provide an extra layer of realism. The most recognisable F1 factory belongs to McLaren. The McLaren Technology Center in Woking cost an estimated £300million ($410m) to build, with its glass windows overlooking a lake that runs alongside the factory. Ron Dennis, the former McLaren boss, was very particular in his desire for detail, meaning every element of the factory's design was done with both function and aesthetics in mind. Parts of the MTC have already been used in multiple movies and TV series, including Andor and Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw, thanks to its impressive architecture. The MTC was therefore an easy choice to establish shots of APXGP's factory for a blockbuster audience, with its first movie look coming when Joshua Pearce (Idris) arrives in a car that drives along the path next to the lake. Advertisement A large APXGP sign was added outside the sliding glass doors that form the factory's main entrance in real life. On the inside, the orange hues of McLaren's famed boulevard that contains its most famous F1 cars were replaced with the APXGP color scheme, plus a giant blow-up photo of Pearce and Sonny Hayes (Pitt) stood side-by-side. Not an Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris in sight. But as Pearce steps further into the factory to meet with the team members as they're introduced to Hayes, there's another change in location — this time to Mercedes' factory in Brackley, more than 70 miles away from Woking. The race bays at Mercedes' factory, which were actually updated ahead of the 2021 season, are already a clinical black and white – perfectly fitting the APXGP theme. The overlooking balconies also offered a perfect spot for the extras posing as team members to gather. A third different F1 factory then gets used just a few scenes later when Hayes visits the APXGP wind tunnel to speak to the technical director (Kate McKenna, played by Kerry Condon) about the car design. This scene is set in Williams' factory in Grove, Oxfordshire, which is 35 miles away from Mercedes (and 56 from McLaren, in Surrey). But using the wind tunnel was significant given this is typically one of the most off-limits places in any F1 factory due to the sensitivity of what happens in such areas. A team will tend to use wind tunnel models, at 60 percent the size of a full F1 car, to test their designs in carefully controlled runs within F1's technical rules. Even some team members will never have been into these rooms. 'They could have done a set, but they wanted to replicate, or be exactly in, the environment,' explained Williams team principal James Vowles. 'I quite like that they wanted to be authentic by using a real tunnel. Advertisement 'They needed a bit of our assistance to run the tunnel and get set up in there. They (also) wanted a model that reflected their car, so we helped in that circumstance. There are a few things we helped line up with them. But they're the film-makers, we're not, so we left it to them.' The crew set up camp in Williams' car park for four days to complete their wind tunnel filming. Although Williams took a small payment, Vowles said the team 'didn't make any money out of it,' and also noted the drawbacks of taking away four potential days for wind tunnel testing for his team's 2026 F1 car. But it all attracted the attention of F1's rule makers at the FIA, which sets strict limits on what teams can and cannot do with their wind tunnel testing — given how valuable each usage run is to the design of a car. So deep is the competitive paranoia in F1 that when Williams informed the FIA of its plans to host the film's production in its tunnel, it sparked an inspection and an array of questions. 'There are exceptions, which is work under certain circumstances, which this was under as well,' said Vowles. 'Anything you do in that circumstance allows you to not count it under the cost cap in terms of timing. It helps other teams more than ourselves in that circumstance.' One step Williams had to take was ensuring the model of the APXGP car — itself not fully compliant with the F1 regulations given its slightly different dimensions, fitting somewhere between F1 and F2 — was different enough that it could offer no advantage to the team or any learnings that could be applied to its 2025 car. 'The model had to be effectively not an exact replica of what we're doing,' Vowles said. 'If you look at their car, there are some differences to it, and it had to be done under FIA supervision at the same time — very much hand in hand with making sure we didn't breach any of the regulations. Advertisement 'Even though the (wind tunnel) fan was on, we did it in a way that was compliant with what they were looking for, and the car didn't replicate enough in the key areas of what we're looking for either.' Although there was always going to be some degree of inconvenience giving over such a crucial part of the Williams factory to a film crew, Vowles' faith in the movie was such that he couldn't pass on an opportunity for his team to be part of it. 'I think the F1 film is going to be as important for us as Netflix (with 'Drive to Survive') was in terms of expanding out the audience viewership that we had and making it wider,' Vowles said. 'It's quite nice to have a little piece of us contained in there, too.' The same rings true for the wider F1 community, with all 10 teams getting some kind of airtime through the movie thanks to the fashion in which the film-makers were embedded within the paddock. There was no need to employ actors to pose as rival team principals, as F1's actual team principals to take part in some scenes. Mercedes F1 chief Toto Wolff, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown and Ferrari's Fred Vasseur all have brief speaking roles in the film. Ex-Haas F1 team boss Gunther Steiner also pops up briefly, while other scenes with team chiefs that were filmed, including one with Christian Horner on the grid at Monza in 2023, never made it into the final cut. Although the fact the team principals are playing themselves might go over the heads of movie-goers with no F1 knowledge, it will be appreciated by fans of the sport and undoubtedly adds to the authenticity element — and was a fun moment for them, too. Vasseur joked he was 'looking for a new job' when asked about his cameo, in which he delivers a brief yet cutting comment on APXGP's prospects. 'I only had to say two words!' Vasseur said, laughing, then noting that had he given the line in Italian, it would only be one word. 'It was not a huge experience, but it went pretty well.' Advertisement To Vowles, the most impressive element of the on-site filming at races for the F1 movie was the seamless integration with the regular goings-on of a race weekend. Even an ambitious scene filmed on the starting grid at Silverstone, which required the two APXGP cars to be lined up at the rear of the field just minutes before the start of the British Grand Prix in 2023, was pulled off without disrupting the race itself. 'You have to remember, for a lot of the scenes, they only had one shot, one take, and that was it,' Vowles said. 'We're not going to go back to the start of the race and do it again. They just had to pick up their imagery. And that's what impressed me with it. 'If you get involved in films, you realize they do about 40 takes. Even when we do our own work, we do 40 takes. They didn't. They got it done on time and did it right. It's quite impressive.'
Top Gear
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Top Gear
Brad Pitt "didn't sleep for 36 hours" after driving a 2023 McLaren F1 car
Interview Top Gear catches up with the biggest names from the year's biggest movie Skip 10 photos in the image carousel and continue reading It's rare that one of the year's biggest films falls squarely into Top Gear's wheel-house. But make no mistake, F1: The Movie is big – an ultra widescreen, IMAX-grade entertainment as precision-tooled and gleaming a star vehicle as the Ferrari SF-25 driven by Lewis Hamilton. He, of course, is one of the film's executive producers, an advisor and guarantor of authenticity, having first been approached by the director, Joe Kosinski, when Lewis's proposed appearance in his previous film, Top Gun: Maverick , was scuppered by the day job. Kosinski, a Porsche 911 obsessive and motorsport fan, became immersed in F1 via Netflix hit Drive To Survive , when the world was becalmed during Covid. He figured an F1 film would be a fun follow-up to the billion dollar-grossing Top Gun sequel. Advertisement - Page continues below Legendary film producer Jerry Bruckheimer, the man behind Days of Thunder , Armageddon , and Pirates of the Caribbean amongst countless other films and television programmes (and computer games, he knows which way the world is turning), is also a racing fan. Together, they pitched to F1's owners, Liberty Media, led by the whip-smart and commercially savvy former Ferrari team principal, Stefano Domenicali. Warner Bros is distributing the film. Finally, no less a player than Apple Studios has bankrolled the project to the tune of a rumoured $300m (a figure Bruckheimer denies but it's in that ball-park), enhancing the tech giant's reputation for prestige television and cinema. You could call it a no-brainer, but the stakes are sky high. Not to mention the fact that the world of motor racing hasn't always been well-served by cinema. What could possibly go wrong, apart from everything? You might like These are the bones of the deal: factor in Brad Pitt, playing a world-weary but still fast former F1 prodigy urged back into top-flight motor racing, hot new British acting talent Damson Idris as his team-mate, the brilliant Javier Bardem as the beleaguered owner of fictional F1 team Apex GP, and Academy Award nominee Kerry Condon as the squad's technical director, and all the bases are covered. As Kosinski tells he had to wait for the technology to arrive that would enable him to tell the story he wanted to tell, the way he knew it needed to be told. With that, plus the buy-in from Formula One and the teams, he could advance an idea that was first deployed by John Frankenheimer in 1966's classic Grand Prix , which is to say, immerse the audience fully in the racing. Advertisement - Page continues below As we know, the production inserted itself into the 2023 F1 season, shooting extensively at Silverstone, Hungary, Monza and Abu Dhabi. This is a piece of movie-making sleight of hand without parallel in cinematic history. And while a Hollywood narrative unfolds in parallel – it's a bit 'on-the-nose' at times, necessarily so – it's worth bearing in mind what you're actually watching. Two actors, one of whom is arguably the most famous film star in the world, driving for real in pretty serious racing cars (specially converted F2 cars, in fact). The recent Hollywood writer's strike didn't have many upsides, but Pitt confirmed to TG that it meant more wheel time for him and his co-star as they prepped for the movie. More, but still not enough, it turns out. We caught up with him, as well as Idris, Kosinski, Bruckheimer and Condon, ahead of the film's release. Have a watch below, and then get yourself to the nearest IMAX cinema this weekend… 9 minutes 57 seconds 12 minutes 33 seconds Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Brad Pitt Reveals His 1 Condition for Doing a Tom Cruise Movie
Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt haven't shared the silver screen since their 1994 film "Interview with the Vampire." However, it's possible they join forces for another collaboration. During a presentation at CinemaCon in April, Cruise raved about Pitt's upcoming film, "F1." Not only did he say he'll be there opening weekend to watch it, he revealed that he and Pitt used to race go-karts. "Brad's got a new movie 'F1' with Jerry Bruckheimer and Joe Kosinski. I can't wait to see that this summer. I'll be there opening weekend. It'll be awesome," Cruise said. "It's great to see Brad driving. He's a very good driver. Believe me, I've raced against him. When we were doing 'Interview with the Vampire,' we'd go and race go-karts. We'd literally finish and go drive go-karts all night." While at the Mexico City premiere for "F1" on Monday, Pitt responded to Cruise's encouraging words. "He's sweet," Pitt said. "We did have our go-kart days in the early 90s." Pitt then made it known that he's more than willing to work with Cruise again under one condition. The "F1" actor refuses to do any wild stunts that we've seen Cruise perform over the past few years. "Well, I'm not gonna hang my ass off airplanes and [expletive] like that," Pitt told E! News. "So when he does something again that's on the ground. Cruise left moviegoers speechless during "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning" when he jumped from one plane onto another. If that wasn't crazy enough, the very next stunt featured him free-falling with a burning parachute. He actually did that stunt 19 times, according to "The Final Reckoning" director Christopher McQuarrie. If Cruise wants to work with Pitt again, he'll have to tone down the death-defying stunts. Brad Pitt Reveals His 1 Condition for Doing a Tom Cruise Movie first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 11, 2025
