Brad Pitt has revelled in the “absolute high” of driving a real Formula 1 car in a private McLaren test to coincide with his starring role in the sport’s new movie.
Pitt, 61, went through a crash course in motor racing in preparation for his Hollywood adaption of the sport which releases worldwide this week.
While the Academy Award winner did all of his driving for the filming sequences, he and co-star Damson Idris were strapped into modified Formula 2 cars instead of actual F1 machinery.
Recently, however, the Moneyball star was handed a chance to drive McLaren’s 2023-spec MCL60 in a private test at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin.
“You’re just in this, like, sublime groove. It is really extraordinary,” he said of the experience on the Beyond the Grid podcast.
“And I try to explain this feeling of downforce and I fail every time because you try to say, like, a roller coaster, but that’s not even right because you feel a fulcrum point underneath you. You’re in it.”
Pitt revealed that he hit a top-speed of 197 MPH on the straights but regrets not being able to reach the elusive 200-mark.
“I got to hit 197 (miles per hour) this week,” he beamed.
“I really wanted to hit 200, it hurts me a little bit. Three miles per hour short on the straight. I’ve never experienced anything that’s just a more feeling of presence in my life because you’re so focused, but not you’re not white knuckling.”
Pitt still recovering from F1 test highs
Pitt was handed a few tips from Lando Norris before he stepped into the car but nothing could have prepared him for the “unique high” of driving an F1 car for the first time.
“I was in an aerobatic plane once and it’s the closest thing. But still, this thing, this is such a unique feeling and an absolute high,” he revealed.
“I’m still on a high. I really am. I’m just still on a high. And I can’t thank Zak Brown and the team and spent the day out with Lando. And just what a high.”
Throughout filming, Pitt was only ever used to the characteristics of the F2 car that had been modified to visually look like an F1 car after close collaboration with Mercedes.
That changed in Austin, and Pitt has no plans of this being a one-time experience.
“The step up? It’s massive. Certainly the pickup is nothing that I had experienced before. It’s just more, more, more, more brakes, more speed, more cornering power,” he explained.
“I want to go back again, and I want to beat the time. I want to beat the time. I want to beat the time!”
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