Sky F1 will be absent from the F1 movie premiere in Melbourne after a selfie attempt went wrong.
Anticipation is building for this revolutionary new film surrounding Formula 1 – starring Brad Pitt – which saw filming take place among the real-life Formula 1 action, the fictional Apex GP squad becoming an 11th team in the garage at a race weekend, using a Formula 2 car adapted by Mercedes.
Sky F1 apologise to Brad Pitt over selfie controversy
The film is due to be released internationally on June 25 and June 27 for North America, but before then Formula 1 has put tickets on sale for fans to watch an early premiere screening of the film on June 23, taking place at 25 IMAX locations around the globe.
Before that, the F1 teams have been invited to a special preview of the film, with the first round of F1 2025 taking place this weekend in Melbourne.
“I think there’s a preview coming up that we’re all going to go along and watch,” revealed Aston Martin team principal Andy Cowell.
However, Sky F1 presenter Simon Lazenby confirmed that the broadcaster will not be included in this special preview, after the actions of he, Sky F1 pundit Naomi Schiff and 2009 World Champion Jenson Button at the British Grand Prix.
Lazenby began: “Not sure we are going to get an invite to the premiere, because, I think it was Silverstone… We can probably say it now that they’ve wrapped production on that.
“We wandered up – myself, Naomi and Jenson – to Brad at the front of the grid, tried to get a selfie, and then the note came back to us, a little bit later on, saying that we had interrupted Mr. Pitt’s process.
“So, apologies to Brad if he’s watching this. Yeah, that’s the reason we’re not going.”
Schiff added: “I think it’s fair to say we’re not going to make the cut! We tried to get in the back of the scene.”
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However, with Lazenby and Schiff having watched the official trailer along with the rest of the world – after it dropped on Thursday – both heaped praise on the movie.
“Doesn’t it look great?” Schiff reacted.
“I mean, we’ve seen a lot of what happens behind the scenes, we’ve seen their big crews on the ground, but I just can’t wait to see what the movie is going to look like.”
Lazenby added: “It looks amazing, doesn’t it? I mean, we’re going to miss them this year.
“They were effectively the 11th team anyway in the garage, so I don’t know what the issue was about bringing Cadillac in.”
That Cadillac F1 reference comes after some team bosses had expressed doubts over the infrastructure at particular grands prix to support an 11th team, at a time when the union of Andretti Global and Cadillac F1 was attempting to convince Formula One Management to reverse its decision to deny them acceptance into the sport.
Approval would later be achieved, with Cadillac F1 to hit the grid in 2026 when the new chassis and engine regulations come into force.
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