23/05/2025
NEWS STORY
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."
Check out our Friday gallery from Monaco here.