Max Verstappen reveals that he had to advise Formula One Management that he would not be attending Wednesday's private showing of the F1 movie.

The four-time world champion was one of only two drivers that missed the private screening that was attended by F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali along with director Joe Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

Following the showing, the words "cool" and "Hollywood" were very much in evidence, with Carlos Sainz somewhat surprisingly claiming that "for the hard-core fan and journalists things might be a bit too American or a bit too Hollywood".

"It's Hollywood, so you need to take a step back and see the broader picture," added Nico Hulkenberg.

With a new baby to contend with, Verstappen told reporters why he didn't attend.

"I notified FOM," he said. They were well aware that I wasn't attending.

"I wanted to spend more private time," he added, "because it is private time at the end of the day, the evening also.

"I think it's coming out on June 27? I'll download it on Apple. Of course, I get it - there was the opportunity to watch it, but if I watch it now or in three or four weeks, that's fine as well. I heard good stuff from the movie, so I'm sure it's going to be exciting."

It remains to be seen if Mohammed ben Sulayem will be introducing new rules to punish drivers who missed the screening - and all other promotional events - or who are even slightly critical of the movie.

The only other driver to miss the screening was Lance Stroll, but no doubt he will have the opportunity to watch it on the giant screens around the circuit on Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Kosinski and Bruckheimer may need to prepare themselves for some serious abuse on social media as it is understood that Franco Colapinto doesn't feature in the film.

Finally, Lewis Hamilton, who was a consultant on the movie and also co-produced it, revealed that he is currently working on three new scripts.

"I've got three concepts that I'm writing," the seven-time world champion, who set up his own production company Dawn Apollo in 2022, told reporters. "I'm going to write them with a writer because I've never written a movie before.

"I've got these concepts and these ideas that I've come up with for movies. I think two of them will be animations and one of them is already in a phase of the first part of the script already, so it's exciting.

"And then there will be documentaries, there will be maybe a TV series at some stage, but mostly movies. I love the development of movies, that's what I love the most."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 23/05/2025 20:48

""The only other driver to miss the screening was Lance Stroll, but no doubt he will have the opportunity to watch it on the giant screens around the circuit on Sunday afternoon." This had me laughing, well done.

Also, nice one on Sainz diplomatically saying what most of us suspected we'd get from the woke group creatively involved. Reminds me of that interview I saw with Freddie Hunt, where he said they made is dad come off "as a prat" and when he asked Ron Howard why he didn't tell the real story, he said that Howard had told him that "The real story was too awesome to tell, no one would believe it!". To which his reaction to being told that was the desire to do the knuckle shuffle across the directors face, so to speak.
So to be fair, I wonder how much of Hamilton's vision is in that final product, considering the other people financially and creatively involved in the film, director aside, everyone else's resume is like a bag of compost - packed with sh*te."

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2. Posted by Chester, 23/05/2025 11:16

"I guess my ordinary talent that requires my full concentration to achieve anything great, colors my opinion of others too. Very possible that others possess so much talent that they can apply it simultaneously to more than one endeavor. Possible, but not probable.
"

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3. Posted by Max Noble, 23/05/2025 10:21

"@chester - being the talking head who explains why the 2025 Ferraris are so slow…? ;-)

"

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4. Posted by Chester, 23/05/2025 10:08

"Hamilton would do well to concentrate on his day job. "

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