Sports
Brad Pitt’s F1 movie: Producers talk wrapping filming in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton’s role
To finish fifth and still stand on the Formula One podium made for an unusual end to George Russell’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
On the other side of the rostrum was Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari driver who had already been on the podium on Sunday evening after recovering from 19th on the grid to finish third behind Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz.
In between Russell and Leclerc in his white and black race suit was Sonny Hayes, the veteran racer from APXGP.
Hayes is the fictional character played by Brad Pitt in “F1,” the movie produced by Warner Bros. and Apple that has embedded itself within the F1 world for the past two seasons. APXGP, Pitt’s fictional team owned by Javier Bardem’s character, has received a full garage setup at races and lined its Mercedes-designed cars up on the starting grid, so committed has the sport been to making this the most realistic racing film ever.
On Sunday after the race in Abu Dhabi, a second podium ceremony was staged to capture some scenes, all in front of fans who had been told to stay in their seats after the race for a chance to be caught in the movie.
Abu Dhabi marked the end of on-site filming for “F1.” Due for release on June 27 in North America and June 25 in the rest of the world next year, the project is steadily nearing completion.
“We’ll stay here for the rest of the week doing pick-ups, and then we’re in the editing room,” Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer of “F1,” said on Sunday in a select media roundtable including The Athletic. “About two-thirds of the movie is already cut. This will be the last race that we have (to) cut this together, and we’ll take a look at it.”
The immersion within the F1 world has given Bruckheimer and director Joe Kosinski, who worked together on “Top Gun: Maverick,” the perfect opportunity to make it as close to real life as possible. A teaser trailer debuted ahead of the British Grand Prix in July, featuring a number of the current drivers and team principals and giving a taste of what the in-car footage might look like. Similar to the fighter jets in “Top Gun: Maverick,” a lot of the footage in “F1” tries to give the audience as close an experience as possible to driving an F1 car.
Brad Pitt’s character speaks with Lewis Hamilton at the Abu Dhabi GP. (Pro Shots/Sipa USA)
Input from the drivers — particularly Lewis Hamilton, who is a producer on the film — was crucial, said Bruckheimer.
“They were very open about their experiences, what they went through getting to F1, (even their) superstitions,” Bruckheimer explained. “We took little things that one driver did about this superstition, and Brad has that in his character.
“Lewis keeps us honest. Lewis looks at every race and goes, ‘You wouldn’t be in second gear in this turn, you would be in first.’ He comes in there, and he can hear the engine and the shifting and everything like that.”
“One of the big things that we’re doing as part of this is that we wanted the racing to be real,” added Eddy Cue, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Services. “Lewis has helped tremendously. It’s always about the story because that’s what it is, but we wanted the racing scenes to really be legit and be the real thing, and I think that’s what we’ve captured. Lewis has been great about that.”
Pitt and Damson Idris, who plays Hayes’ young teammate Joshua Pearce, went through extensive training and testing to pilot the APXGP cars used in the movie, which are bulked-up versions of F2 cars. Pitt and Idris were on-site in Abu Dhabi for the last round of at-race filming and even photobombed some of the teams’ end-of-year photos in the pit lane on Thursday. The paddock has embraced the project of filming within a living, breathing sporting environment.
One consequence of operating during a grand prix weekend, particularly in front of fans, is that clips of filming taking place have inevitably made their way online. Scenes such as the podium in Abu Dhabi or Pitt’s celebrations with the Mexican flag in front of the Foro Sol stadium section in Mexico have already surfaced. But both Bruckheimer and Cue were comfortable that nothing had emerged that would give away details central to the plot.
“If you’re on the set of a movie, and you get a clip of it, you would have no idea what the hell is going on,” Cue said. “It’s not like it’s shot in sequence, right? These little things… I saw this thing on YouTube of Brad fainting in Vegas or whatever, but you have no idea what the context of that is or before. I actually think all of it helps.”
The nature of that scene in particular, where Pitt ‘fainted’ onto a crash mat on the main straight in Las Vegas last month, was not something Cue felt had pushed the dramatic element of the movie too far.
“I saw a guy walk out of a fire in real Formula One,” he said, referring to Romain Grosjean’s 2020 crash in Bahrain. “I think passing out is pretty real.” Be it for crash sequences or even the on-track scenes, the producers said everything in “F1” took inspiration or reference from moments through the sport’s history.
“A lot of the incidents in the movie are taken from real events,” Bruckheimer said. “Everything that Brad does on the track, the little tricks that he does, drivers have done through the decades in various races. Because he doesn’t have the fastest car and he’s not the fastest driver. He has to use clever tactics to stay up with these other drivers.”
Brad Pitt, playing Sonny Hayes, greets Damson Idris, playing Joshua Pearce, after the Abu Dhabi GP. (Sipa USA)
The conclusion of on-site filming in Abu Dhabi was later than planned after last year’s actors and writers’ strike in Hollywood put things on hold. But Bruckheimer said there was never a moment when the project looked to be in jeopardy.
“We’re very fortunate because we had a whole section of the second unit photography that we hired, the second unit director,” he said. “So when both strikes hit, we didn’t need the writers. We didn’t need the actors. Joe Kosinski, who is our director, shot all of the second unit during the strike. So when we came back, we just had to shoot the actors. We were very fortunate that it worked out this way.”
Cue said that while it “delayed things a little bit,” there was “never any question about this,” even feeling the added time had been beneficial. “You can make an argument that having more time always helps,” Cue said. “We were able to come here twice, as an example, and we were able to film more than we would have.”
Much as Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” docuseries helped F1 reach a younger, more mainstream audience upon its debut in 2019, the sport hopes that “F1” will have the same impact. Bruckheimer thought that desire from the paddock and wider sport had led to such a collaborative effort in the past two years.
“The fans have been phenomenal, they really have,” Bruckheimer said. “They’ve embraced us and been really gracious to Brad and to the movie itself, the stuff that they’ve tweeted about the movie. They’ve realized the impact that a movie can have on a sport.
“The drivers haven’t been exposed to certain markets. I mean, these guys are rockstars, let’s face it, they’re the 20 best drivers in the world. And they’ll be exposed to not just the ‘Drive to Survive’ audience, but everybody.”
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LAS VEGAS – Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio were once brothers in arms in the Judgment Day. The two helped the faction run “Monday Night Raw” for several years.
As championships and opportunities came and went, the rift between Balor and Mysterio grew. It came to a head when Balor caused Mysterio to lose the Intercontinental Championship to Penta. Balor leaving the Judgment Day left Mysterio and Liv Morgan as the leaders with JD McDonagh, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez sticking around.
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The latter four chose to ride with Mysterio and attacked Balor on one episode of Raw.
The bitter war led to a match Sunday night at WrestleMania 42. To make matters more interesting, Raw General Manager Adam Pearce made the match a street fight hours before the show was set to begin.
Balor had vowed to bring the “Demon” out and he certainly did.
JACOB FATU PUTS DREW MCINTYRE IN THE ‘REAR VIEW’ IN UNSANCTIONED MATCH AT WRESTLEMANIA 42
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Balor made his way to the ring in his “Demon” gear, dripping with red and black paint. Mysterio was in a mask with other Mysterio supporters.
The two then proceeded to beat the crud out of each other.
Mysterio wrapped Balor’s head in between a chair and hit a 619 on him. He tried to pin Balor, but to no avail. At another point, Mysterio tossed Balor through a table set up in the corner.
As many have learned, it’s hard to keep your demons down. Mysterio learned the hard way.
Balor would not give up. Balor clotheslined Mysterio, hit him with a chair multiple times before wrapping his head in between the chair and drop-kicking him into the corner. Balor put Mysterio onto a table and hit the Coup de Grâce for the win.
Dominik Mysterio is introduced before his match against Finn Balor during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Balor excised his own demons, while Mysterio is still haunted.
DENVER — What do you know? The once-stampeding Dodgers have been caged by the Colorado Rockies.
With a 9-6 loss Sunday at Coors Field, the two-time defending World Series champions lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. The Dodgers again couldn’t hold a lead, letting the Rockies tee off for 15 hits.
Nor could the Dodgers keep up offensively at the hitter-friendly park — though they put some pressure on in the ninth inning, when Shohei Ohtani led off with a ground-rule double and the Dodgers scored twice to cut the lead to three runs. Then the new guy, Ryan Ward, made the final out in his big league debut, robbed of a hit and a chance to keep chipping away by a diving Troy Johnston in right field.
Before that, the Rockies — who beat the Dodgers twice in 13 meetings all of last season — chased starter Roki Sasaki from the game in the fifth inning and then ruffled the Dodgers’ relievers. That included closer Edwin Díaz, who came on in the eighth and promptly gave up three singles, a walk and two runs before being pulled with the Dodgers trailing 8-4.
Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki gave up three runs on seven hits in 4-2/3 innings Sunday against the Rockies in Denver.
(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
He and Blake Treinen combined to face eight batters without getting an out.
“They both weren’t sharp,” said manager Dave Roberts, who had theories but not many answers — though he did have real concern, especially about Díaz, who recently had his right knee checked out by the medical staff.
Roberts said the closer wanted to pitch after nine days off, even though it wasn’t a save situation. But his velocity was slightly down (95.4 mph vs. 95.8) and so, “today was a tough evaluation,” the manager said.
“It really was,” Roberts said. “Because, you know, I know what it’s supposed to look like, and when it doesn’t look like that, it gets a little concerning, really.”
And losing for the second time to the Rockies, who are now 9-13? Being in danger of losing their four-game series, after arriving in Denver without having lost to a National League opponent, against a club that hasn’t made the postseason since 2018?
It’s well below the bar the Dodgers have set, and it added a bitter note to Ward’s otherwise sweet debut.
Ward punched a big league clock for the first time wearing No. 67 and cranked his first hit off Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen in the fourth inning, lining a changeup to right field for a single that scored Andy Pages, made it 3-0 and got the 20-some members of Ward’s party up, jumping in place, hugging and high-fiving.
“When I was on first base, I got to see them all jumping around up there,” Ward said. “That was a pretty special moment.”
He also singled in the sixth and swung on the first pitch in his first at-bat, a fly out in the third inning.
The Dodgers gave Sasaki a 2-0 lead in the third. Alex Freeland drove in Hyeseong Kim, and Shohei Ohtani doubled in Freeland — and extended his career-best on-base streak to 51 games, moving past Willie Keeler into third place in Dodgers history.
Sasaki went 4-2/3 innings, threw 78 pitches and gave up three runs on seven hits, striking out two and walking two. His ERA after his fourth start: 6.11, worst in the six-man rotation.
The Dodgers fell behind 6-5 in the seventh when Treinen — who was cleared Friday after he was struck in the head by a batted ball during batting practice — gave up four consecutive hits, including a two-run home run by Mickey Moniak.
The result likely will be a minor detail when Ward tells the story years from now about getting the call after first baseman Freddie Freeman was placed on the paternity list.
The Dodgers’ No. 19 prospect and reigning Pacific Coast League MVP spent the last seven years in the minors. Last season, he hit 36 home runs and drove in 122 runs with a .937 on-base-plus-slugging percentage for triple-A Oklahoma City, and he has a 1.020 OPS and four homers this year.
Ward made it a point to improve his chase rate, draw more walks and get on base more frequently, everything the Dodgers asked of him. He also passed the broadest patience test.
“The plate discipline, being a better hitter … he’s done all that,” Roberts said. “He’s improved his defense. But honestly, for me, just not to let his lack of opportunity in the big leagues deter him. That’s easy when you get frustrated and let it affect performance, and he hasn’t done that.”
If anything, Ward said, the waiting made him better.
“I used it to keep going. ‘OK, if I’m not there yet, what do I have to do to get there?’” he said. “‘What part of my game do I need to work on to keep getting better?’
“I used it as fire to keep working.”
That will be the Dodgers’ assignment too.
In the finale of the four-game series Monday, the Dodgers are expected to start left-hander Justin Wrobleski (2-0, 2.12) against Colorado left-hander Jose Quintana (0-1, 5.63).
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LAS VEGAS – Danhausen’s curse may be real after all – just ask Stephen A. Smith and the New York Mets.
While the latter dropped their 10th game in a row, Smith got his share of the curse on Saturday night during Night 1 of WrestleMania 42. Smith was in attendance for WWE’s premier event of the year and heard massive boos from the crowd.
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith was sitting ringside to watch the action. The ESPN star appeared on the videoboard above the ring at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. He appeared to embrace the reaction and smiled through it.
The boos came after Danhausen appeared on “First Take” on Friday – much to the chagrin of the sports pundit. Smith appeared perplexed by Danhausen’s appearance. Smith said he heard about Danhausen and called him a “bad luck charm.”
Danhausen said Smith had been “rude” to him and put the dreaded “curse” on the commentator.
WWE STAR DANHAUSEN SAYS METS ‘CURSE’ ISN’T EXACTLY LIFTED AS TEAM DROPS NINTH STRAIGHT GAME
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith is far from the only one dealing with the effects of the “curse.”
Danhausen agreed to “un-curse” the Mets during their losing streak. However, he told Fox News Digital earlier this week that there was a reason why the curse’s removal didn’t take full effect.
“I did un-curse the Mets. But it didn’t work because, I believe it was Brian Gewirtz who did not pay Danhausen. He did not send me my money so it did not take full effect,” Danhausen said. “Once I have the money, perhaps it will actually work because right now it’s probably about a half of an un-cursing. It’s like a layaway situation.”
Danhausen enters the arena before his match against Kit Wilson during SmackDown at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on April 10, 2026. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
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On “Friday Night SmackDown,” WWE stars like The Miz and Kit Wilson were also targets of Danhausen’s curse.
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