Lewis Hamilton has dined with his Hollywood friend Brad Pitt ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix with the pair continuing to plot their Formula One movie blockbuster.
Hamilton, 37, is producing a new film which will star Pitt 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 $US140 million (A222 million).
Tucked away inside a private room at Eddie V’s Prime Seafood Restaurant in downtown Austin on Thursday night, Hamilton and Pitt, 58, were joined by Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali.
Greg Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media – the American company which owns F1 – was there along with Hamilton’s father, Anthony and stepmother, Linda.
Joseph Kosinski – the man behind Top Gun: Maverick, who will direct the F1 movie – also attended.
Pitt then met with the grid’s other team principals at the Circuit of the Americas on Friday to brief them about the film that F1 bosses hope will prove as successful as the popular Netflix series, Drive to Survive.
Hamilton, a consultant for the movie, returned to the more familiar surroundings of his Mercedes cockpit for practice at a track he has won on five occasions.
But the British driver 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.
Mercedes have brought more upgrades to America than any other team, with a new front and rear wing, as well as a revised floor to provide Hamilton with an expectation he has the machinery to challenge Verstappen and his all-conquering team.
However, the seven-time world champion is aware there have been false dawns before.
“We are going to try everything, as we always do,” said Hamilton. “But I don’t want to get my hopes up.”
The post Hamilton’s Pitt stop over Hollywood movie appeared first on The New Daily.
