Finishing fifth and still standing on the Formula 1 podium meant an unusual end to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for George Russell.
On the opposite side of the rostrum was Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari driver who had already been on the rostrum on Sunday evening after recovering from nineteenth on the grid to complete third behind Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz.
Standing between Russell and Leclerc in his white and black racing suit was Sonny Hayes, the experienced racing driver from APXGP.
Hayes is the fictional character played by Brad Pitt in “F1,” the Warner Bros. and Apple-produced film that has established itself within the F1 world over the past two seasons. APXGP, Pitt's fictional team owned by Javier Bardem's character, has been given a full garage setup at races and has its Mercedes-designed cars lined up on the grid. The sport has put a lot effort into making this essentially the most realistic racing film ever made.
A second podium ceremony was held on the Sunday after the race in Abu Dhabi to capture some scenes, all in front of fans who had been told to remain of their seats after the race for a probability to be within the film .
Abu Dhabi marked the top of on-location filming for “F1”. The project is scheduled to release on June twenty seventh in North America and June twenty fifth in the remainder of the world next yr and is steadily moving towards completion.
“We're going to stay here the rest of the week doing pickups and then we'll be in the editing room,” Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer of “F1,” said on a select media panel Sunday The athlete. “About two thirds of the film has already been edited. This will be the last race where we can do this together and we will watch it.”
Immersing yourself on this planet of F1 gave Bruckheimer and director Joe Kosinski, who worked together on Top Gun: Maverick, the right opportunity to make the film as realistic as possible. Ahead of the British Grand Prix in July, a teaser trailer was released for the primary time, introducing a number of the current drivers and team bosses and giving a taste of what the in-car footage might seem like. Similar to the fighter jets in “Top Gun: Maverick,” much of the footage in “F1” attempts to present the audience as near the experience of an F1 automobile as possible.
Brad Pitt's character speaks to Lewis Hamilton on the Abu Dhabi GP. (Pro Shots/Sipa USA)
The input from the drivers – particularly Lewis Hamilton, who serves as a producer on the film – was crucial, Bruckheimer said.
“They were very open about their experiences, what they went through to get to Formula 1, (even their) superstitions,” Bruckheimer explained. “We took the little things a rider did against those superstitions and Brad has that in his character.
“Lewis keeps us honest. Lewis watches every race and says, 'In that corner you wouldn't be in second gear, you'd be in first.' He is available in there and may hear the engine and the shifting and every thing like that.”
“One of the large things we're doing with that is we wanted the races to be real,” added Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of services. “Lewis helped enormously. It's always about the story because that's what it is, but we wanted the racing scenes to be really authentic and authentic and I think that's what we captured. Lewis did a great job.”
Pitt and Damson Idris, who plays Hayes' young teammate Joshua Pearce, went through extensive training and testing to drive the APXGP cars used in the film, which are scaled-up versions of F2 cars. Pitt and Idris were on location in Abu Dhabi to film the final round of race footage and even photobombed some of the teams' end-of-year photos in the pit lane on Thursday. The paddock has taken on the project of filming in a living, breathing sports environment.
One consequence of operating during a Grand Prix weekend, particularly in front of fans, is that clips of filming have inevitably leaked onto the internet. Scenes such as the podium in Abu Dhabi or Pitt's celebration with the Mexican flag in front of the Foro Sol stadium section in Mexico have already appeared. But both Bruckheimer and Cue were certain that nothing had emerged that would reveal key plot details.
“When you're on the set of a movie and also you see a clip of it, you’ve got no idea what the hell is happening,” Cue said. “It’s not like it was filmed in sequence, is it? These little things… I saw on YouTube how Brad passed out in Las Vegas or whatever, but you have no idea what the context is or before. I actually think all of it helps.”
In particular, the nature of that scene, in which Pitt “passed out” on a mat on the main straight in Las Vegas last month, was not something that Cue felt had exaggerated the film's dramatic element too much.
“I saw a man running out of a fire in real Formula 1,” he said, referring to Romain Grosjean’s 2020 accident in Bahrain. “I believe fainting is pretty real.” Whether it was crash sequences or even the scenes on the race track, producers said everything in “F1” was inspired or referenced by moments in the sport's history.
“Many of the incidents in the film are based on real events,” Bruckheimer said. “Everything Brad does on the track, the little tricks he does, drivers have done at different races over the decades. Because he doesn't have the fastest car and isn't the fastest driver. He has to use clever tactics to keep up with these other drivers.”
Brad Pitt, who plays Sonny Hayes, greets Damson Idris, who plays Joshua Pearce, after the Abu Dhabi GP. (Sipa USA)
Completion of filming on location in Abu Dhabi got here later than planned after the actors and writers' strike in Hollywood last yr put filming on hold. But Bruckheimer said there was never a moment when the project gave the impression to be at risk.
“We’re very lucky because we had a whole section of second-unit photography hired, the second-unit director,” he said. “So when both strikes hit, we didn’t need the writers. We didn't need the actors. Joe Kosinski, our director, shot the entire second unit during the strike. So when we came back, all we had to do was shoot the actors. We were very lucky that it worked out that way.”
Cue said that while it “delayed things a little bit,” there was “no doubt about it” and even felt the beyond regular time was useful. “You can argue that having more time always helps,” Cue said. “For example, we were able to come here twice and film more than we would have liked.”
Just as Netflix's “Drive to Survive” docuseries helped Formula 1 reach a younger, mainstream audience when it debuted in 2019, the game hopes “F1” could have the identical impact. Bruckheimer felt that the need of the paddock and the game as an entire had led to such a collaboration over the past two years.
“The fans were really phenomenal,” Bruckheimer said. “They embraced us and were really kind to Brad and the movie itself, the things they tweeted about the movie. They realized the impact a film can have on a sport.
“The drivers were not exposed to certain markets. I mean these guys are rock stars, let's face it, they're the 20 best drivers in the world. And they will be made available not just to the Drive to Survive audience, but to everyone.”
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