Directed by Top Gun: Maverick’s Jos Kosinski, Pitt plays Sonny Hayes – an ageing F1 hero dragged back to rescue a backmarker team and mentor young gun Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). This isn’t your usual studio backlot job: they shot across 14 actual Grands Prix – Silverstone, Spa, Las Vegas – with Lewis Hamilton producing to keep the racing authentic.
Pitt and Idris did their own driving in modified F2 machines rigged with IMAX cameras. No cheap CGI cutaways, just real speed and real risk. Early reviews call it Top Gun on four wheels: tyre smoke, orchestral bombast Ed Sheeran and Doja Cat on the soundtrack – and more tension than most of the real grid manages on a Sunday.
Of course it hits all the cliches: old champ, cocky rookie, team boss yelling in pit lane. But who cares when it looks this good? All 20 current F1 drivers cameo – Verstappen, Hamilton, Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, Alonso – plus Martin Brundle, Crofty, and even Haas loudmouth Guenther Steiner pop up for realism.
Why does this matter? Because F1’s global boom owes half its new fanbase to Netflix’s Drive to Survive. This flick is a polished leap further: more drama, more glamour, and no tyres graining mid-race to kill the mood. It hits our cinemas (you have to see it in IMAX) from June 25 – and if the real championship bores you, this might scratch the itch instead.
Montreal proved it
Back to real life: Canada reminded us why F1 sometimes needs Hollywood’s help. McLaren should’ve waltzed off with a 1-2. Instead, Lando Norris showed us why he’s too nice to be champion. He saw a gap that never existed, stuck his nose inside teammate Oscar Piastri, and parked it in the wall. To his credit, he apologised before the marshals even pushed the car away. A great human but great humans don’t win races.
Piastri, cool as ever, survived the knock, finished fourth and stretched his lead. He’s not quite Max Verstappen yet – but give him time. Mad Max, meanwhile, is still the yardstick. The greatest driver of this generation. Red Bull butchered their tyre strategy and Max still dragged his grumpy car to second place.
Mercedes briefly looked like contenders again, but that’s mostly because Montreal’s billiard-table surface flattered their rear end for once. George Russell nailed pole, Kimi Antonelli scored his first podium. Good on them – but don’t bet on it happening every week.
Russell gets his due
Credit where it’s due: George Russell was on it in Montreal. When the Mercedes works, he’s deadly. And young Kimi Antonelli’s first champagne shower is proof the Silver Arrows might have a post-Hamilton plan that actually works. But let’s not kid ourselves – they only looked like winners because the track flattered them and McLaren tripped over themselves. Austria’s up next. Expect reality to bite again.
The real pecking order
Behind McLaren’s garage soap opera, Ferrari did what Ferrari does best: overpromise, underdeliver, and let Charles Leclerc spend half the race arguing on the radio. Hamilton, now in red, was left swerving marmots and moaning about strategy.
McLaren sits on 364 points – Mercedes has 199, Ferrari 183, Red Bull 162. The rest? May as well be hobbyists. Yuki Tsunoda’s four points wouldn’t buy you lunch at Monza.
Next up: Austria. Expect the big gaps to come back. And don’t expect Norris to forget Canada anytime soon.
One Kiwi, two flags
Elsewhere, Shane van Gisbergen – yes, our own SVG from our easternmost state – just won his second NASCAR Cup race in the States, then thanked Max Verstappen for a few well-timed tips. Kiwi grit meets Dutch bluntness: a combo that works wherever you put it.
Heavy metal
While F1 plays out its circus, the auction world has its own bit of showbiz. RM Sotheby’s is rolling some magic metal over the block next month at Cliveden House in soap dodger land.
Top of the list: Jeremy Clarkson’s old Ferrari F355 GTS – the same one he called “the best car in the world” back in 1996, back when Top Gear was more sneering car nerds than global marketing juggernaut. Low mileage. One aged owner. $500k.
If that’s not your flavour, how about a 1961 Lotus Elite once owned by Soichiro Hondaf? Or a 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza Recreation – yes, a recreation, but try finding an original that hasn’t bankrupted a small European country.
Sixty-four cars in total, from Ferraris and Chevrons to a bonkers 2007 Creation LMP1 Le Mans veteran. It’s a petrolhead’s Christmas list.
Back in Tesla land
Back on the road, Tesla’s in the Federal Court after about 10,000 Australian owners signed on to a class action over phantom braking and the eternally half-baked “full self driving”.
Phantom braking is when your Tesla hits the anchors for ghosts, shadows or an innocent road sign, often when a B-double is two metres off your rear. Drivers are calling it terrifying – lawyers are calling it misleading.
Meanwhile, Elon’s sales are tanking while the Mad Musk is busy telling the world robotaxis are coming. Maybe stick to the Pitt movie in the meantime.
Le Mans
Our own Cameron McLeod won the Mustang Challenge Le Mans. The other race, Le Mans 24 Hour, had a fairy tale ending when former F1 star Robert Kubica drove his Ferrari team to an impressive win. Why is this a stunner? Kubica had a partial amputation of his right forearm after a huge near fatal rally crash. Many in the sport ridiculed him for coming back. Kubica dedicated his win to saying fudge you to them. Our own Matt Campbell came second in a Penske Porker.
jc@jcp.com.au
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Yes, Brad Pitt is driving in F1, Danny Ricciardo is back and Melbourne chanteuse, Rosé, is warbling not driving. Hollywood’s turned up too. Brad Pitt stars in F1: The Movie, a turbocharged blockbuster that might be better than the real season.