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In November, we didn’t yet know the upcoming Brad Pitt F1 movie’s release date. Rumors were swirling that production was delayed due to the SAG strike. An F1 spokesperson made media rounds and set the record straight.

Apex, the F1 film by Apple Studios starring Brad Pitt, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem, and Lewis Hamilton, is still filming as planned. However, Lewis Hamilton told RacingNews365, “Probably early 2025, I would imagine, with the post-work they’d have to do. So yeah, it’s been delayed a lot.”

Lewis Hamilton puts his hand on Brad Pitt's shoulder facing each other smiling
Lewis Hamilton and Brad Pitt | Mario Renzi – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

Either way, we’ll be waiting more than a year. F1 says the film was planned for release in 2025 anyway, and now Hamilton confirmed the complications arising from shoot schedules.

Brad Pitt explained the plot, which, while heartwarming to me, seemed a bit, well, formulaic at first read. A clip of Martin Brundle’s interview with Pitt during the 2023 British Grand Prix at Silverstone revealed the high-level synopsis. Apex is about a jaded F1 driver, Sonny Hayes. After an accident in the 1990s, Hayes dips off the F1 track and quietly races in smaller circuits. His former team principal, played by Javier Bardem, leads a modern team named APXGP. He calls on Hayes in a pinch to train their driver as a sort of Hail Mary.

The upside to a fictional motorsports storyline is that, unlike retellings, there’s an opportunity here for some really exciting twists and unexpected turns.

Shooting at live F1 events this year, we can expect to see Pitt, the cast, and the production crew blending themselves into the F1 schedule for 2024.