Lewis Hamilton, The Film’s Executive Producer, Understands That The Project Will Help Attract More Motorsport Enthusiasts
For much of the 2023 season, Formula 1 has been grappling with an authorized production of a film that has the category as a setting. The project has Brad Pitt and Lewis Hamilton as executive producers and Pitt as the star, alongside Damson Idris, has been given the green light to share space with the championship. According to Hamilton, it will serve to expand horizons and make more people get bitten by the racing bug.
According to Hamilton, the film, which has not yet been named, is another step towards the expansion of markets that Formula 1 has been pursuing since Liberty Media bought the commercial rights at the end of 2016.
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“The film is a big step in the direction of expanding the horizon. “I think that’s very much part of the new leadership, with Liberty and the great job that Stefano [Domenicali, F1 president] and Greg [Mafei, chief executive of Liberty Media] are doing in being open to new things.
“It’s great that we’re embarking on things we’ve never said before. I believe it’s a really good job. There was a very big spotlight on the Vegas race, something that will be an important part of our film, which we’re working as hard as we can to make it a reflection of this legendary sport. Both from older eras and this one,” he continued.
Lewis Hamilton has strong expectations about the F1 film (Photo: Mercedes)
“Same thing with Miami: they’re great fan groups in each of these cities, always yielding different atmospheres. I always felt like we needed more than a race [in the U.S.], because the complaints were that people had to wake up at 4 or 5 a.m., in the middle of the night, to watch races. There, it’s hard to get involved. On top of that, F1 only went to the country once a year. Now we really allow the noise to continue [year-round],” he said.
“But we need to continue to grow, and I think the film will help with that. It’s the only sport that’s really international or global, so we have to educate more and more people in it. There are still a lot of people out there that we have to get bitten by the [motorsport] bug. We can still grow a lot,” he concluded.
In addition to Pitt and Idris, the film’s cast also includes Oscar winner Javier Bardem [‘No Country for Old Men’] and Emmy winner Tobias Menzies [‘The Crown’]. Joseph Kosinski [‘Top Gun: Maverick’] is the director.
Although Hamilton says it is expected to be released in 2025, after being delayed due to strikes by actors and writers in Hollywood, the project has reached a moment of crisis, with doubts about the use of everything that has been recorded so far.
Formula 1 returns only next year, on March 2, with the championship’s debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Before that, in February, it carries out the collective pre-season tests.
