F1 director bought six real F2 cars for Brad Pitt and Damson Idris to drive

By Casey Cooper-Fiske, PA Entertainment Reporter

F1 director Joseph Kosinski has revealed he and his team purchased six real F2 cars for stars Brad Pitt and Damson Idris to drive while making the film.

The 50-year-old, who previously directed Top Gun: Maverick, said Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff came up with the idea of having the movie’s actors driving real racing cars in order to “capture the speed of this sport”.

Speaking at a launch event for the film, Kosinski said: “It was actually Toto who came up with the idea of, rather than making a movie car fast enough to achieve these speeds, he said, ‘why don’t you start with a race car, and take a real race car, and then work the cameras that you need into that?’.

“So we did that, we actually bought six F2 cars, real F2 race cars, and worked with Mercedes AMG, the Formula One team and their engineers, to build real race cars that could carry our camera equipment, recorders and transmitters for making this film.

“So every time you see Brad or Damson driving this movie, they’re driving on their own in one of these real race cars on a real F1 track.”

The film sees former F1 racer Sonny Hayes (Pitt) return to the sport after retiring following a crash, to team up with upcoming driver Joshua Pearce (Idris) as part of the struggling Apex Grand Prix team run by Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), but as the pair begin to work together tensions start to flare.

One of the movie’s producers is seven-time F1 champion Sir Lewis Hamilton, who described it as “the most authentic racing film you’ll ever experience in a cinema”.

The 40-year-old racing driver said: “The whole filmmaking team put in an incredible amount of effort to deliver a genuine Formula One racing experience unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before on screen.

“As you may have heard, the film was shot during the F1 races over the course of a season, and with Joe (Kosinski) at the helm, audiences around the globe are going to feel like they’re on the track and in the driver’s seat.

“Watching Brad (Pitt) drive around speeds over 180mph was really impressive to see, because it’s not something you can just learn overnight.

“And the dedication and the focus that Brad put into this process has been amazing to witness.”

Kosinski said it took “months of training” in order to prepare Idris and Pitt to drive the high-powered cars.

He added: “The first day was was really fun, it was me, Brad and Lewis Hamilton at the track together, all of us jumping in cars and driving each other around in sports cars, which was one of those things I’ll never forget, having Lewis Hamilton as your driving instructor.

“But what we learned, and what Lewis was really interested in seeing, did Brad know how to drive? Because if Brad can’t drive, this whole film wasn’t going to work.

“And what Lewis was very happy to discover was that Brad had a lot of just natural ability right from the start.

“I don’t know where he got that, or if he was born with it, and he rides motorcycles, which I think has something to do with that.

“But he’s just a very talented, naturally gifted driver, which you know, for Lewis, after that first meeting gave him a lot of confidence that we might have a shot at pulling this off.”

F1 will be released in UK cinemas on June 25.