Brad Pitt seemed downright euphoric. He laughed with the break-in kids, he joked with the real pilots. “It’s great to be here,” the actor told British broadcaster Sky Sports at the Formula 1 race at Silverstone. “I have the time of my life here,” enthused the 59-year-old American and also revealed what the Hollywood Formula 1 film with a star cast is supposed to be about, for which Silverstone is on the verge of a Grand Prix for the first time was filmed.
Accordingly, Pitt will play a pilot in the 90s who has a terrible accident and then competes in other racing series until he is brought back to Formula 1 by a friend. He is the boss of a chronically unsuccessful team and – according to Pitt – played by none other than the Oscar-winning Spaniard Javier Bardem.
In the racing team, Pitt is supposed to lead a highly talented driver, played by Damson Idris, to success in his role as a kind of mentor. The film is directed by Joseph Kosinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Both were also responsible for “Top Gun: Maverick” in this line-up. Record world champion Lewis Hamilton is also involved in the Formula 1 film as co-producer and consultant.
Brad Pitt: “I have so much respect”
Pitt said he hadn’t had any experience in racing cars before, but he was in a good mood, but on motorcycles. “That helped a lot,” he said. At Silverstone, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff had previously revealed that they had sent Pitt to a formula driving school in France.
Engineers from the Silver Arrows worked on the bodywork of the car in the film, based on a Formula 2 model. And the black and gold-painted cars were even on the grid before the formation lap on Sunday. Employees of the fictitious eleventh team, which was in action under the working name “APXGP”, pushed the two cars into the last two starting boxes. One car even completed an installation lap far behind the field, the other was pushed back into the pits.
Pitt, who was also celebrated as a “special guest” at the official driver briefing by Formula 1 drivers on Friday, and Idris lined up at the front of the British national anthem alongside the real drivers of the motorsport premier class. Pitt told Sky Sports that he had no idea what it meant to be a racing driver: “These are great athletes, I have so much respect for them from all classes.”
