Hollywood producers have hailed Lewis Hamilton’s influence on Brad Pitt’s F1 movie – even if they dislike the rising costs of his feedback.
Mercedes star Hamilton is an executive producer on the 2025 release, which is tracking to be one of the most expensive films ever made.
Reports claim that the budget has surpassed $300million – which is around $100m more than what Titanic cost in 1997.
F1 producer Jerry Bruckheimer has disputed that price tag but has conceded input from seven-time champion Hamilton has raised costs.
The 81-year-old reaffirmed the Apple Studios production has placed an enormous value on authenticity, which has seen American actor Pitt given his own garage space at Silverstone between Ferrari and Mercedes.
Their fictional team were also allowed to drive a modified F2 car around the British Grand Prix circuit, and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso has confirmed he has shot a scene.
“Lewis Hamilton saw a part of it, gave us a critique of how the drivers actually do various things,” Bruckheimer said during an appearance at Liberty Media‘s investor day in New York.
“The level of specifics that he gave us, like in Silverstone in Turn 3 you’re in second gear, and he could hear with his ear we [Brad Pitt] were in third gear.
“So it’s that kind of thing that he’s bringing to the movie, and we just can’t imagine what goes into what a driver does, what the sport brings to an audience, and he gives it to us.
“Sometimes we don’t like to hear some of the things he says, because it costs us more money to fix things, but we’re all in.”
Hamilton’s tips extended beyond the confines of the car – he also had notes for the two superstars leading the film.
Pitt will play the role of Sonny Hayes and British actor Damson Idris stars as Joshua Pearce for their fictional team Apex Grand Prix.
Bruckheimer added: “And also [Hamilton] said, ‘You know, it’s a little too easy for him (actor playing the driver)’, so we’re going to make it a little harder.
“He said when he finishes a race, especially like Singapore where it’s very hot, these guys can barely get out of the car, they’re so exhausted, lose 10 pounds, and he said that he just has to lay down for five minutes before he can get up and do the press interviews that he has to do. And it’s not only him, it’s all of them. They’re just completely exhausted.”
“We’re going to show what it takes to be an F1 driver. Everything that he has brought to this movie, I can’t even express our thanks to him and all the folks from F1 who made this all possible.
“We want to make it great, and he’s certainly helping us.”
Hamilton’s heavy involvement unsurprisingly triggered input from his Mercedes team, who created the unique vehicles used in the film.
The black-and-gold livery that Pitt will be sporting in the movie features Silver Arrow imagery – something that caused unease at paddock rivals Red Bull over how they’d be portrayed as a result.
Bruckheimer said: “The interesting part is that, since we teamed up with Mercedes, the other teams said ‘wait a second, this movie is going to be about Mercedes and we’re going to look bad’.
“Red Bull said ‘we’re going to be the villains’.
“It took us three years to convince them that they weren’t going to be the villains and we finally got to a place where all the teams are really leaning into us to really help us.”
