Lewis Hamilton dined with Hollywood star Brad Pitt, who is to star in a Formula One blockbuster that the British racing driver is producing, ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.
Pitt, 58, will star in the film, reported to have the working title Formula One, as a former driver who comes out of retirement to coach an up-and-coming talent. Apple has bought the rights to the film with a reported budget of £125million.
As well as being one of the film's producers, Hamilton is acting as a consultant. And there was plenty more advice on offer for Pitt on his role at their dinner table in a private room on Thursday (October 20) at Eddie V’s Prime Seafood Restaurant in downtown Austin, Texas.
The pair were joined by Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff and F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali, and Greg Maffei, chief executive of Liberty Media, the US company that owns F1. The film's director Joseph Kosinski – the man behind Top Gun: Maverick - was also there along with Hamilton’s father, Anthony, and stepmother, Linda.
The following day, Pitt met the grid’s other team principals at the Circuit of the Americas to brief them about the film F1 bosses hope will prove as successful as the popular Netflix Drive to Survive series.
Hamilton, 37, returned to the more familiar surroundings of his Mercedes cockpit for practice at a track where he has won on five occasions. But he is running out of time to ensure his record of winning at least one race in each season he has competed in remains intact.
Just four rounds remain of a championship sewn up by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen a fortnight ago in Japan. "We are going to try everything, as we always do,” said Hamilton. “But I don’t want to get my hopes up."
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