McLaren has handed Brad Pitt a dream drive in one of its Formula 1 cars, RacingNews365 can reveal. Pitt is the star of the F1 movie, which premiered in New York on Monday, the culmination of a three-year project overseen by director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton also worked as a producer and advisor. The 61-year-old plays Sonny Hayes, a former F1 driver asked to come out of retirement and mentor a rookie prodigy, played by Damson Idris, for the fictional APX Grand Prix team. Pitt recently stated in an interview to preview the movie that he and Idris drove a combined 6,000 miles, over two years, in preparation for the role and in the making of the film itself. For the movie scenes, the cars were based on F2 technology, adapted to appear like F1 cars by Mercedes. Pitt and Idris also drove on several F1 circuits to provide backgrounds to aid the story's authenticity. RacingNews365 can reveal that on Thursday, Pitt took to the Circuit of the Americas, in Austin, Texas, at the wheel of McLaren's 2023 car, the MCL60. It was a car transformed throughout the season by two major upgrades, carrying Lando Norris to seven podiums, and then-rookie Oscar Piastri to two. Pitt was at the circuit on Wednesday to watch Norris put the car through its paces, whilst Alex Dunne, the McLaren junior competing in F2 this year, enjoyed a TPC test in the MCL60 the day before.
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