Lewis Hamilton’s nerves, ‘icks’ and spoilers - F1 drivers describe private move screening

Drivers have given their initial reactions after most of the grid attended a private screening of the upcoming F1 movie in Monaco on Wednesday evening, with some revealing more than others.

Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll were the only two drivers who skipped the exclusive first screening of the F1 movie in the Principality, with the four-time world champion and new father instead opting to stay at home and stream online.

Asked if there was any reason he was absent from the screening, Aston Martin’s Stroll replied: “Just stuff. At some point I’ll watch it.”

The F1 film, which has been directed by Joseph Kosinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, hits theatres internationally on 25 June.

F1 stars Brad Pitt as former driver Sonny Hayes who returns to the sport to help the fictional team APXGP and his rookie teammate Joshua Pearce, played by co-star Damson Idris.

Filming took place on race weekends throughout the 2023 and 2024 F1 seasons, meaning the fictional storyline has been intertwined with cameos from real-life F1 drivers.

The film was the hot topic in the paddock during Thursday’s media day ahead of this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix. After getting a first look at the final product, F1 drivers shared their views…

Lewis Hamilton reveals nerves

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who is listed as a producer on the project and worked in an advisory role, admitted he was apprehensive about what his fellow drivers would think.

"I've got all the drivers there and I was sat in the middle, I was nervous! I was like 'oh God, everyone seeing it for the first time’,” Hamilton said. "It was great to look around and see some of the reactions from, particularly the drivers. I really care what the drivers think.

"I wanted them to think highly of it and I mentioned them afterwards you know, like, [I] welcome your honest opinions about it because for sure there's there's parts you'd be like 'hey the timing may be off on on a strategy stop' or whatever it might be but I think the great thing is the sound is great, the image is incredible.

“It's something that has never been done before so something I'm really proud of."

Carlos Sainz gets the ‘ick’

Williams driver Carlos Sainz said there were only a couple of moments he found to be awkward-viewing.

“There were just a couple of icks, but honestly, not as many as I thought,” Sainz told media including Crash.net. “They warned us also. They said, ‘guys, we love your sport. We are in love with your sport. But this is Hollywood’. I was like, OK.”

“Icks” aside, Sainz insisted he “truly enjoyed it”.

“I think for us F1 experts, we're going to see things a bit like we sometimes see with Netflix[Drive to Survive], you can tell they're a bit Hollywood-esque,” he added.

“I truly believe that for a new fan, it will attract a lot of new audience. It will do very well for the people that don't know anything about F1. For the hardcore fan and for journalists and us, we will see things that maybe you think is a bit too American or a bit too Hollywood.

"But honestly, I enjoyed the whole thing. There were things that really surprised me. The team have done an outstanding job in putting together, I think, a very good Hollywood movie.

"Apparently, they did a survey with a lot of people that had never watched a Formula 1 race. After watching the film, they would say, would you watch a Formula 1 race now? And 100% of the people said yes.

“So that just tells you how good I think it's going to do for the sport. Maybe I'm completely wrong but I think it's going to do a lot of good.”

Esteban Ocon accidentally drops spoilers

Haas driver Esteban Ocon accidentally revealed some spoilers about the film.

“First of all, I said to Lewis, it is super immersive with the scenes of them driving the cars and I think that’s fantastic, something we’ve never seen before,” he said.

“I think there were some great racing scenes like Daytona, for example, when they had good battles down the inside and stuff like that.

“I think overall it was a great movie, I think at some point there was things that didn’t really make too much sense for us, as drivers, being inside the paddock every time, and racing. But I really see where Lewis has put his touch to try and make everything as realistic as possible.

"What I found really good is that last race they suddenly don’t just fly and win the race but it’s because of something happening in the race, putting the red flag and them not being in Q3 or having new tyres…”

Ocon was not aware media had not seen the film, something which was quickly pointed out to him.

Asked what parts he would like to have seen changed, Ocon replied: “Some parts Lewis has pushed it to keep realistic, some parts they needed to make it more Hollywood and needs to be open to the public and catch the eye.

“For us I think some more racing focus, maybe a bit less crashing in points and more racing. But I think overall it’s still by far the best racing movie of all time and it will have a mega success, and I feature quite a lot in it in racing.

"But I’m glad I didn’t have too many incidents with Sonny Hayes!”

Ocon’s Haas teammate Oliver Bearman was left impressed by Pitt’s performance, adding “he did his homework”.

Overwhelmingly positive response

Ferrari’s home hero Charles Leclerc commented: “It’s Hollywood-like and I think that’s really really cool because it’s not for F1 drivers at the end, it’s for a broader audience.

“And I thought it’s absolutely great for the sport to have a movie like that. The scenes are incredible. I’m super impressed by how the camera was put onto the cars and the angles that we see from the cars driving.

“I know that Brad drove a little bit of the cars himself which is very impressive and I’m sure he enjoyed it so it’s really cool and I think for F1 it’s amazing because obviously we are reaching people that we wouldn’t have reached without this movie.”

Meanwhile, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso said: “I like the movie. I think it represents quite well the Formula 1 part of it, and the sport part of it, which is never a guarantee on these kind of movies, if everything is fake or you don't feel that represents well what you do.

“But I think they kept that quite good and hopefully the people enjoy it. I think it is a good thing for our sport, for sure, because everyone will love to see a Formula 1 race, hopefully after seeing the movie, and for the new fans.”

On concerns about how accurate the movie is, Alonso pointed out: “It’s still a movie, and it's not a documentary or anything like that.

“There were a couple of things that will never happen, but I would say that the majority, or nearly all of the movie, in terms of track action and things like that, it was very, very original and very representative, so that was a very good thing.”