On Sunday, ahead of the British Grand Prix kicking off, we got our first look at director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s upcoming F1 film. The pair, most recently known for blowing us all away with the Tom Cruise-led Top Gun: Maverick, will be behind the camera and guiding Brad Pitt and Damson Idris in the promising-looking film that is set to debut in June 2025.
In the action-packed trailer, we got to see a few snippets of actual racing, including a scene that was filmed by digitally altering footage captured onboard Pierre Gasly’s Alpine A523 as it rocketed up the Eau Rouge corner at Spa-Francorchamps.
As this is digitally-altered, many wondered if the scene showing Pitt’s Sonny Hayes in the cockpit of the fictional AXGP car was also fake. It turns out it wasn’t.
Speaking with Formula 1, Bruckheimer revealed, “That’s Brad driving – three months of training, working with the best stunt drivers. Lewis [Hamilton] even said, ‘look, you’re doing really well’, and that’s quite a compliment.”
As for how they filmed the scene, Bruckheimer added, “We have 14 cameras we can put on the car. The cameras are smaller than the cameras we used in Top Gun. They also are mobile, they can move and turn which we’ve never had before, so technology’s advanced so much, and they’re IMAX quality which is even better.”
Needless to say, it looks like we’re on track for a summer scorcher next June when F1 opens in cinemas. Will you be checking it out on opening weekend?