Circuit of The Americas executive chairman Bobby Epstein believes the entertainment industry dodged a bullet when Brad Pitt discovered his love for racing during the filming of the F1 movie.
Speaking about Pitt’s impressive driving when McLaren invited him to drive its MCL60 at COTA earlier this year, Epstein admitted the Hollywood star’s natural talent behind the wheel was immediately on show.
“When I saw the car go by my office at the speed it was going, basically, someone said, ‘that’s actually Brad in the car.’ I could not, visually, see a bit of difference in the pace or the style of how he was handling it,” he explained.
Pitt’s session in the car was arranged by McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown, with both the actor and Sky Sports F1‘s Martin Brundle invited to put some laps on the board at the venue of the United States Grand Prix. Pitt, who plays Sonny Hayes in the F1 movie, reached an impressive 197 mph in the 2023-specification car.
“I was a little surprised. I spent some time talking to him. You find out, he’s not like an amateur hobbyist. He’s passionate and focused. I think, what he told me was, he kind of wished, as many of us do, ‘I wish I were 30 years younger because this is where I would go.’
“I think the movie industry is very lucky that Brad Pitt didn’t discover racing earlier in his career because I think that would have been the route he might have chosen.
“Yeah, we talk a lot about it. He likes driving the track. He likes COTA, which is great.”
Brad Pitt, actor playing Sonny Hayes, a driver of the fictional Apex APXGP F1 team
Photo by: Getty Images
His driving gained positive feedback from Brundle as he watched the American pilot the car around the 3.4-mile circuit.
With the F1 movie, directed by Joseph Kosinski, grossing upwards of $600 million since its release, Epstein is expecting strong ticket sales this season.
“Whether it changed the demographic, because the ticket sales for this year look like we’re going to trend towards being certainly our top three years in terms of attendance. And then we saw the demographic shift much younger, and it’s well publicised, a lot more females than before.
“When the Netflix series came out, I think that trend has held. I don’t know that the movie will change that demographic any. But I think it continues to be a young audience, and that’s a pretty highly desirable cohort towards sponsors.”
