Brad Pitt's reaction spoke volumes after seeing George Russell at the F1 movie premiere.
Pitt stars in the movie as veteran driver Sonny Hayes, who is convinced to come out of retirement to drive for the APXGP F1 team.
The film centres around Hayes and his relationship with rookie sensation team-mate Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), and their pursuit of F1 glory.
Advert
Javier Bardem, Kerry Condon and Will Merrick are among the other stars, while all the F1 drivers that competed in the 2023 season make appearances.
As part of the pre-filming process, both Pitt and Idris tested F2 and F3 cars at the Circuit Paul Ricard in France, with filming taking place at the majority of the circuits that formed the second half of the 2023 F1 calendar.
The movie premiere took place on Monday in New York, with the majority of F1 drivers attending.
Co-producer Lewis Hamilton was present, along with Canadian Grand Prix race winner George Russell.
Advert
During the premiere, Pitt was interviewed by Sky Sports reporter Craig Slater - before Russell got involved.
After Russell appeared in his eyeline, Pitt said: "Hold on... what a weekend, dude. What a great race. Dude, it was so fun... it was so fun to watch.
"Dude, real pleasure. We'll talk later."
Advert
He turned back around to the camera, and added: "Can you believe they even let us in [to F1]? It's insane!
"They let us in the world, let us in race weekends, let us embed ourselves in the season. I've never heard anything like it. Especially this sport, it's so revered.
"We just drew from history [for parts of the film]. A bit of this, a bit of that, and we just had Lewis Hamilton to keep us straight.
"I love this movie. I think it wins on so many levels. And I love sports movies, I look racing movies, when they work. And I think we're there, yeah."
Topics: Formula 1, George Russell
Ryan Smart