Alex Albon says Brad Pitt’s “F1” movie is “hard to watch” – Here’s why

Williams driver Alex Albon has revealed why he finds it “hard to watch” the F1 movie, which was released internationally on 25 June.

As the Brad Pitt-led film hit cinemas yesterday, Albon likened his experience watching it to the Blue Angels watching Top Gun, claiming that Formula 1 drivers are “too involved” in the sport to relax and enjoy it.

The film, directed by Joseph Kosinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, follows veteran driver Sonny Hayes’ (Pitt) return to F1 to join the struggling APXGP team alongside rookie driver Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton served as executive producer and worked to ensure it remained realistic, albeit with some Hollywood flair.

“Yeah, it’s hard for us to watch, I think,” Albon explained to Motorsport.com and other media in Austria. “I had a similar… I asked the Blue Angels. I don’t know if I told you this, but I did a Blue Angels feature a month ago now. And I asked them how was Top Gun? Like, what do you think of Top Gun? And I kind of expected them to say, like, ‘yeah, it’s great.’ And they were like, ‘hmm.’

“And I was like, ‘I guess you’re too involved in it to actually, you can’t relax and watch it.’ And so funny enough, when we had the same thing, it was the same kind of process. I’m just watching the background and just being super critical of everything. I was watching one of them do a track run the wrong way around the track. And I’m like, no one does a track run the wrong way around the track. Just little things which doesn’t even matter.”

Despite the Thai-British driver’s reservations, he still believes the film will be positive for the sport.

“I think it’s going to be really good,” he added. “I think they’re doing a really good job with all these kind of things. I think Netflix was obviously already clearly a big success. And looking at the F1 movie. I’m interested.

Alex Albon, Williams

Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images

“I’ve been seeing reviews of people that know nothing about Formula 1. And it’s been generally, I think, really positive. Which, yeah, I think keeping that forward momentum with Formula 1 is going to be really amazing.”

Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson echoed Albon, arguing that the blockbuster will “attract a wider audience.”

“It’s something that, for fans who probably haven’t seen Formula 1 before… are going to watch it and I think be attracted to it,” the New Zealander explained to Motorsport.com and other media. “It’s got a really cool storyline that I would say would attract more people to watch Formula 1, outside of just the cars, the speed, stuff like that. The story behind it is much bigger in the movie.”

The 23-year-old also praised Pitt for his commitment to giving the drivers justice in the film.

“From what I’ve seen, he took it very, very seriously,” he added. “He spent a lot of time in a car as well. I think recently he was just driving again. But also before the movie, he was spending a lot of time either with a Formula 1 team, or driving different types of cars, maybe even Formula 1 cars to understand it and show that perspective in the movie. Which I think he did a very, very good job of. He plays the role very, very well. I mean, it’s Brad Pitt, so…”