The 2024 British Grand Prix was certainly one for the books, especially considering Sir Lewis Hamilton finally broke his two-and-a-half-year drought to notch a record ninth career win at Silverstone (and 104th overall). But something that might have escaped your attention was the first teaser trailer for F1 starring Brad Pitt and Damson Idris.
True to the earlier promise of director Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy, Top Gun: Maverick), we can certainly expect some tasty “in-camera action” to showcase the wheel-to-wheel action like never before. And a welcome appearance from ex-Haas team principal Guenther Steiner (among others). Side note: let the campaign for Best Supporting Actor begin.
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“It’s almost funny to me to see people who are so enamoured with real photography. Younger people almost haven’t seen a lot of it. They’re so used to CGI being a tool of big movies that when you shoot something for real, it feels innovative,” Kosinski told The Wrap.
“That’s exactly the approach for Formula One [working title]… to shoot at the real races and real cars and capture it. It’s going to be a huge challenge but an exciting one for me.”
The reportedly $300 million Apple Studios-backed production achieved all-new heights of authenticity by having Pitt and Idris join the drivers’ briefing ahead of the 2023 British Grand Prix — the co-stars also lined up for the national anthem, and even walked through Silverstone in full costume; the crew returned this year for some additional pick-up shots and minor reshoots.
Additionally, the film’s fictional 11th team — dubbed Apex Grand Prix team (APXGP) — had its very own garage and pit bay alongside Scuderia Ferrari; and even showcased a Formula 2 car modified by the Mercedes team to resemble current F1 machinery (fitted out with camera technology similar to that of Top Gun: Maverick).
Although the AXGP cars did participate in the formation lap, it’s worth noting that in this specific instance, these race rigs were piloted by ex-drivers Craig Dolby and Luciano Bachetta — not the Hollywood actors. However, The latter two took the high-powered whips for a spin earlier when nobody else was on the track for safety reasons.
In terms of story, similar to Sylvester Stallone’s Driven, F1 follows a grid veteran named Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) who was forced to retire after a horrible crash in the 90s. That is until his dear friend and APXGP team owner Ruben (Javier Bardem) calls him up to mentor rookie prodigy Joshua “Noah” Pearce (Damson Idris).
“I play a guy who raced in the 1990s who has a horrible crash and disappears to race in other disciplines,” Brad Pitt explained to Sky Sports.
“His friend (played by Javier Bardem), the team owner, contacts him. They’re last in the grid, they haven’t scored a point. But they have a young phenom, played by Damson Idris, and they bring me in as kind of a Hail Mary.”
“You’ve never seen speed, you’ve never seen the G-forces like this. The footage is really, really exciting.”
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The rest of the cast has been filled out by Kerry Condon as Kate, Tobias Menzies as Banning, Sarah Niles as Joshua’s mother Bernadette, Kim Bodnia, Samson Kayo as Cashman, and plenty more.
Seven-time world champion and outgoing Mercedes driver Sir Lewis Hamilton — who produces via Dawn Apollo Films — three-time world champion Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz Jr, Sergio Perez, as well as the rest of the drivers will appear as themselves. The legendary Jerry Bruckheimer has also signed on to produce.
Joseph Kosinski’s F1 movie starring Brad Pitt and Damson Idris has officially set a release date: June 25th, 2025 — check out the teaser trailer above.
