Film by Hamilton and Brad Pitt will be "best racing film ever"

Lewis Hamilton has high hopes for the film he is making with Brad Pitt. Speaking to Motorsport.com the seven-time world champion says that in his opinion it will be the best racing film ever.

It was announced some time back that Brad Pitt wanted to make a film about Formula 1, and that Hamilton would be involved in the film as an advisor and producer. The story will be fictional - and therefore not a biographical film about existing drivers - but the film will use real footage from F1. Last weekend, Pitt and the rest of the production team already entered talks with Formula 1 teams to cement their collaboration.

Besides Hamilton and Pitt, there is a strong team working on the film. Apple CEO Tim Cook is financing the production. Jerry Bruckheimer - best known for the Pirates of the Caribbean films - will be producer, and it will be directed by Joe Kosinski, who recently directed Top Gun: Maverick. Hamilton couldn't get over his enthusiasm about the film's prospects.

“I have such high hopes for it," Hamilton said. "I know we're going to make the best racing movie that's ever existed, both visually and we're going to work on making sure we pull on the heartstrings of all those fans.”

Films about Formula 1 are relatively rare. The last successful film about the sport was 2013's Rush, about the rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda. It is also very unusual for authentic footage from F1 to be used in a film. The last time that happened was in 1976, for the film Bobby Deerfield starring Al Pacino. The film was not a success.