Max Verstappen, F1’s reigning triple world champion, has admitted that Hollywood’s upcoming F1 feature film, despite starring Brad Pitt and involving Lewis Hamilton’s company Dawn Apollo Films, doesn’t quite rev his engine. Set for a delayed 2025 release due to the recent industry strike, the movie is still generating buzz in the racing world, especially with Pitt making appearances at various grand prix events and even in the cockpit.
But Verstappen, while acknowledging Pitt’s star power and reminiscing his roles in movies like “Ocean’s Eleven,” expressed a lukewarm interest in the film. Speaking to the Dutch magazine Formule 1, Verstappen said, “I like movies anyway and Brad Pitt is of course a super actor. Before the grand prix in Austin, I saw a few clips of the new film when they showed them during the drivers meeting with an explanation of how they had filmed it all. It’s nice to see, that’s for sure, but it doesn’t really interest me that much. I don’t need to see a film of my own sport.”
Verstappen’s impatience with the artificial elements of modern Formula 1 is well known. “This film is of course a made-up story and everything is always over-dramatised. You have to love that,” he quipped. The Dutchman also touched on his experiences with Netflix’s ‘Drive To Survive’ series and other media engagements that require a certain level of performance. “I don’t think that’s really acting,” he insisted. “It’s just the world we live in. That’s just how it works. It’s more a bit of playing every now and then.”
Despite these obligations, Verstappen remains committed to authenticity. “I’d rather not do that, of course, but it is part of the political game in Formula 1 and many other sports. Over the years, I have become a little bit better at what I say and what I don’t, but in general, I am mainly myself and certainly not an actor,” he concluded.
