Brad Pitt was left in fear after zipping around a race circuit with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel.
That is a claim from from the director of ‘F1’, the upcoming Formula 1 movie.
Hollywood superstar Pitt plays the lead role of a returning driver who sets out to reclaim glory.
Hamilton is a producer, tasked with giving the project authenticity.
Early on in the process, he took Pitt for a spin in Los Angeles.
Lewis Hamilton drove Brad Pitt around race track
“He gave Brad the scare of a lifetime in a lap,” director Joseph Kosinski told TIME.
“Brad was clawing at the windows, begging to get out.”
Pitt has made some high-profile appearances at Formula 1 grands prix, because the movie has shot scenes at real-life races.
He has been dressed in his race overalls, posing alongside the real drivers.
Pitt even drove his movie car around the Silverstone track during the 2023 F1 British Grand Prix weekend.
Mercedes provided the car. It is an F2-spec machine, tweaked to look like a current F1 car.
Hamilton also offered feedback to producer Jerry Bruckheimer in the casting process.
“The notes are so detailed,” says Bruckheimer.
“‘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.”
Hamilton predicted: “It’s going to blow away anything that’s ever been done in Formula One before.”
Hamilton referenced Drive To Survive, the Netflix series which is credited with creating a boom in interest in F1 in the United States.
“Netflix has been huge,” he said.
“This is going to be even bigger, on more of a global scale.
“I don’t think we set out for it to be, like, an Oscar-winning movie.
“The goal is to make people feel good, to bring people in, to inspire people.
“We want you to leave the cinema and be like, ‘Wow, that was freaking wicked.’”
