You feel like you're at a real Grand Prix, because we were...

Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, director Joseph Kosinski and more tell RACHAEL DAVIS about the immersive experience of bringing Formula One to the big screen

- BY RACHAEL DAVIS

DRIVING precision-engineered cars that can reach upwards of 200mph, battling it out for a prestigious podium place most of us mere mortals can only imagine the exhilaration of being part of a Grand Prix race.

But Formula One is a sport that brings with it an inherent danger, those high speed corners and breathtaking straights bringing not only intoxicating thrills but also devastating disasters.

This is a stark reality which Sonny Hayes, the protagonist of F1 The Movie played by two-time Oscar winner Brad Pitt, knows all too well. The story goes that Hayes, who competed alongside some of the all-time F1 greats in the 1990s, now lives as a nomadic racer-for-hire after a catastrophic on-track crash stopped his Formula One career in its prime.

When he's approached by his former teammate-turned-team owner Ruben, played by Javier Bardem, to join his struggling team APXGP and attempt to score them some much-needed points by the end of the season, the decision to return to F1 brings up all kinds of complicated feelings.

"He's a pure racer," says Fight Club and Bullet Train star Brad, 61, of his character. "He's there for the love. He washed out of F1 at a young age, and had thought he had made his peace with that dragon until this opportunity comes along from his old friend."

Not only does Sonny have to get used to the modern style of racing which he learns is vastly different to the technology he used in the Nineties but he also butts heads with his hotshot rookie teammate Joshua Pearce, played by Londoner Damson Idris. After all, F1 may be a team sport, but it's one where often your own teammate is your biggest competition.