Finishing fifth and still on the Formula 1 podium was an unusual end to George Russell’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
On the other side of the stand was Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari driver who had already reached the podium on Sunday evening after coming from 19th on the grid to finish third behind Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz.
Between Russell and Leclerc in his white and black racing suit was veteran APXGP rider Sonny Hayes.
Hayes is the fictional character played by Brad Pitt in “F1”, the film produced by Warner Bros. and Apple which has integrated itself into the F1 world over the past two seasons. APXGP, the fictional Pitt team owned by Javier Bardem’s character, was given a full garage at the races and lined up its Mercedes-designed cars on the starting grid, so determined was the sport to make it into the racing movie the most realistic ever made.
On Sunday after the race in Abu Dhabi, a second podium ceremony was held to capture some scenes, all in front of fans who had been asked to remain seated after the race for a chance to be filmed.
Abu Dhabi marked the end of on-location filming for “F1”. Scheduled for June 27 in North America and June 25 in the rest of the world next year, the project is nearing completion.
“We’ll be here for the rest of the week doing reshoots, and then we’ll be in the editing room,” Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer of “F1,” said Sunday during a roundtable discussion with selected media. Athletics. “About two thirds of the film is already cut. This will be the last race we have to do together, and we’ll take a look.
Immersing yourself in the world of F1 gave Bruckheimer and director Joe Kosinski, who worked together on “Top Gun: Maverick,” the perfect opportunity to make it as close to reality as possible. A trailer was released ahead of the British Grand Prix in July, featuring a number of current drivers and team principals and giving a taste of what the in-car footage could look like. Similar to the fighter jets in “Top Gun: Maverick,” many of the images in “F1” attempt to give audiences as close an experience as possible to driving an F1 car.
Brad Pitt’s character talks to Lewis Hamilton at the Abu Dhabi GP. (Pro Shots/Sipa USA)
The input of the drivers, particularly Lewis Hamilton, the film’s producer, was crucial, Bruckheimer said.
“They were very open about their experiences, what they went through to get to F1, (even their) superstitions,” Bruckheimer explained. “We took into account the little things that a driver did about this superstition, and Brad has that in his character.
“Lewis keeps us honest. Lewis watches every race and says, “You wouldn’t be in second gear going into that corner, you’d be in first.” He gets in there and he can hear the engine and the gear changes and everything else.
“One of the big things we’re doing in this is we wanted the races to be real,” added Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services. “Lewis has helped enormously. It’s still about the story because that’s what it’s about, but we wanted the racing scenes to feel really legit and real, and I think that’s what we captured. Lewis was great about it.
Pitt and Damson Idris, who plays Hayes’ younger teammate Joshua Pearce, underwent extensive training and testing to drive the APXGP cars used in the film, which are bulkier versions of F2 cars. Pitt and Idris were on hand in Abu Dhabi for the final round of filming of the race and even photobombed some of the teams’ year-end photos in pit lane on Thursday. The paddock adopted the plan to film in a living, breathing sporting environment.
One of the consequences of operating during a Grand Prix weekend, especially in front of fans, is that clips of filming in progress have inevitably been posted online. Scenes such as the podium in Abu Dhabi or Pitt’s celebrations with the Mexican flag in front of the Foro Sol stadium section in Mexico have already surfaced. But both Bruckheimer and Cue were convinced that nothing had emerged that would reveal the central details of the plot.
“If you’re on the set of a movie and you watch a clip of it, you’ll have no idea what’s going on,” Cue said. “It’s not like it’s shot in sequence, is it? These little things… I saw this thing on YouTube of Brad passing out in Vegas or something, but you have no idea the context or before. Actually, I think it all helps.
The nature of this particular scene, where Pitt “passed out” on a crash pad on the main straight in Las Vegas last month, was not something that Cue felt pushed the dramatic element from the film too far.
“I saw a guy come out of a fire in real Formula 1,” he said, referring to Romain Grosjean’s 2020 crash in Bahrain. “I think the fainting is pretty real.” Whether it’s the accident sequences or even the on-track scenes, producers said everything in “F1” draws inspiration from or references moments in the sport’s history.
“Many of the incidents in the film are taken from real events,” Bruckheimer said. “Everything Brad does on the track, the little tricks he does, drivers have done over the decades in various races. Because he doesn’t have the fastest car and he’s not the fastest driver. He must use smart tactics to keep up with the other drivers.
Brad Pitt, as Sonny Hayes, greets Damson Idris, as Joshua Pearce, after the Abu Dhabi GP. (Sipa United States)
The conclusion of filming on location in Abu Dhabi took place later than planned after last year’s actors’ and writers’ strike in Hollywood put everything on hold. But Bruckheimer said at no point did the project appear threatened.
“We’re very fortunate because we hired a whole second unit photography part, the second unit director,” he said. “So when the two strikes hit, we didn’t need the writers. We didn’t need actors. Joe Kosinski, who is our director, shot the entire second unit during the strike. So when we returned, we just had to film the actors. We were very lucky that it worked out that way.
Cue said that while it had “delayed things a bit”, there was “never any doubt about it”, even believing the extra time had been beneficial. “You can make the argument that having more time is always helpful,” Cue said. “We were able to come here twice, as an example, and we were able to film more than we could have done.”
Just as Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” documentary series helped F1 reach a younger, more mainstream audience upon its debut in 2019, the sport is hoping “F1” will have the same impact. Bruckheimer believed the desire of the paddock and the sport in general had led to such a collaborative effort over the past two years.
“The fans were phenomenal, they really did,” Bruckheimer said. “They welcomed us and were very kind to Brad and to the movie itself, everything they tweeted about the movie. They realized the impact a movie can have on a sport.
“Drivers have not been exposed to certain markets. I mean, these guys are rockstars, let’s be real, these are the 20 best drivers in the world. And they will be on display not just to the “Drive to Survive” audience, but to everyone.