Pitt and Top Gun Maverick director Joe Kosinski, who will be directing the as yet unnamed F1 film for Apple TV+, were guests of the world championship at last weekend’s US GP, getting research underway for a project that’ll have cameras rolling at grands prix while the film is made.
Hamilton has said that he won’t appear in the film, but says that he’d like to have a go at acting in future, after missing out on a role as a pilot in the latest Top Gun movie when filming clashed with last year’s championship battle.
His fledgling company has won a second commission from Apple: a documentary on Hamilton himself, which is expected to air in late 2023 or early 2024.
Despite immersing himself in Hollywood and touring LA to seek advice from filmmakers including former Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Star Wars creator George Lucas, Hamilton says that he has no plans for immediate retirement.
“My main focus and my core job is still motor racing,” he told Deadline earlier this week, “I’ve spoken to people who have said: ‘Look, when I stopped it all came crashing down. I wasn’t prepared to do other things.’
“When I do stop racing — which I don’t plan on doing for a while; I still feel I’m in a good place — I want it to be seamless. I want to be able to move on to fully focus on Dawn Apollo Films and to be able to jump in at a similar level to what I’ve been used to.”
“King Charles said ‘You’ve come a long way'”
The new project means that Hamilton’s ‘retirement portfolio’ continues to grow. It currently includes his Mission44 project to help diversity in motor sport and his X44 Extreme E team.
Recently knighted in last year’s honours list, Hamilton reflected on his journey from a young karter, supported by McLaren, to becoming a global icon, relating this to his exchanges with the UK’s new monarch.
“I met him [King Charles III] when I was 13,” he told Kimmell. “He came to open the [McLaren] factory up. I was sitting in my go-kart, he knelt down and asked me what my dreams were, and I told him one day I wanted to be F1 world champion.
“So then coming to all the way down the line [when Hamilton was knighted], he’s like, ‘I remember speaking to you – you’ve come a long way.’ We had a real short chat.”
Hamilton described his journey from young karter to being knighted
Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
With the F1 season as long as it’s ever been, and Hamilton owning properties all over the world, the chances to go back to his native Stevenage are rare.
However, the most successful driver of all time revealed how he quite literally takes a trip down memory lane.
“When I get home I have an old Mini Cooper, like the Mr Bean car,” he said.
“I go and take it back into the town that I grew up in. I go past my first school, I go past my first house. No one would expect me in that car, that’s for sure.”