Stefano Domenicali has admitted that filming for Brad Pitt’s Formula 1 movie will be quite invasive in a warning to the pit crews of Max Verstappen and co. Lewis Hamilton is helping to produce the Hollywood blockbuster which follows an F1 driver coming out of retirement to mentor a younger star, with filming set to take place in the paddock over Grand Prix weekends this season.
In 2022, it was announced that Hamilton would be working alongside Pitt to help create an F1 movie. Filming has the support of those at the top of the sport who are keen to build on the success of Drive to Survive and appeal to more new markets.
However, filming could have some negative impacts on F1 teams and drivers with Domenicali admitting that it could be quite ‘invasive’ and would need to be ‘controlled’. It appears the sport will need to work hard to ensure film crews do not get in the way of the likes of Verstappen to ensure race weekends can continue without drivers and team personnel becoming annoyed.
“We’re going to start the shooting in Silverstone very soon, and you will see it will be the first movie when basically, they will be within the racing event,” the Italian told a meeting of F1 investors. “It will be quite invasive in terms of production, it’s something that we need to control in a way, but it will be another way of showing that F1 never stops.”
However, Domenicali believes that the upside of having the film will offset any potential negatives. The 57-year-old believes that the film will allow the sport to build on the success of Drive to Survive by exposing F1 to fresh audiences.
He added: “When we started the collaboration with Netflix, the [F1] community said what’s going on? This is not our place to be. And now we understand the power of it. And then we added the very strong presence with social media, making sure that all our drivers and teams are very active in promoting the sport. And that’s another tool with the movie.”
Hamilton also believes the movie will be good for the sport pledging to help make one of the best F1 movies ever.
“I have such high hopes for it,” he said last year after the film was announced. “I know we’re going to make the best racing movie that’s ever existed, both visually, and we’re going to work on making sure we pull on the heartstrings of all those fans.”
