Not much 'interest' in Hamilton's film – Verstappen

Dec.19 (GMM) Max Verstappen has confessed he has little interest in the feature film about Formula 1 that is currently in production.

Despite production delays due to the recent Hollywood strike, plans for a movie starring Brad Pitt and involving Lewis Hamilton’s company Dawn Apollo Films are still in full swing and set for release some time in 2025.

Like his F1 rivals, triple world champion Verstappen met American icon Pitt several times in 2023 as he filmed scenes on location at grands prix.

“I remember him in Oceans’s Eleven and so on – I remember those roles,” the Red Bull driver told the Dutch magazine Formule 1.

“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,” Verstappen added, “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.

“This film is of course a made-up story and everything is always over-dramatised. You have to love that,” the 26-year-old quipped. “I personally don’t have much of an issue with that for a film.”

Indeed, Verstappen and his fellow stars arguably do some acting of their own for the dramatised F1 documentary series Drive To Survive, whilst also performing on cue for some of F1’s ‘show’ elements and for the media.

“I don’t think that’s really acting,” the 26-year-old insists. “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.

“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.”