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Filming for an upcoming movie centred on F1 is set to begin at Silverstone as part of the British Grand Prix in July.
Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and involving Brad Pitt and Lewis Hamilton, it will be directed by Joseph Kosinski who was in charge of Top Gun Maverik.
For F1’s commercial rights holders, it offers another means of promoting the sport to a wider audience.
While Drive to Survive has proved a strong addition to its marketing efforts, Liberty Media is looking for more penetration into the mainstream.
A high-budget Hollywood film starring an A-lister like Brad Pitt ticks that box.
“That’s another way to show what we want to do, something different,” explained F1 CEO and president Stefano Domenicali.
“When we started the collaboration with Netflix, the community said ‘What’s going on? This is not our place to be.’
“Now we understand the power of it.
“Then we added the very strong presence with social media, making sure that all our drivers [and] teams are very active in promoting the sport.
“And that’s another tool with the movie.
“Actually, we’re going to start the shooting in Silverstone very soon.
“It will be the first movie when basically they will be within the racing event.
“It will be quite invasive in terms of production. It’s something that we need to control, in a way, but will be another way of showing that Formula 1 never stops.”
F1 movie building on Drive to Survive
On top of strengthening the sport’s broader market appeal, the movie is viewed internally as a safety net to Drive to Survive.
The fifth season of the docuseries was released on Netflix in February with season six already filming.
However, the sport is aware that it has a limited shelf life and needs to diversify to maintain its relevance and continue to attract new fans.
“The Simpsons has gone for 20 years, but there aren’t that many shows – the Fox guys are cognisant – that run that long,” added Greg Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media, Formula 1’s parent company.
“Drive to Survive is wonderful but we cannot rely on Drive to Survive to be our only promotion vehicle forever.
“You’ve got to keep it fresh, change the game, and that’s one of the things I’d like to think we’ve done as a team entering Formula 1.
“This movie, kind of like Vegas is going to be a whole other level, as much as Drive to Survive is enormous to a lot of people in this room and a lot of people around the world, I still go places and people say ‘huh?’.
“Its audience is not that big.
“It may be big among this group, but it’s not that big.
“A Brad Pitt move with Lewis Hamilton consulting and Bruckheimer and with the director from Top Gun Maverick… it’s going to be amazing.”
