Esteban Ocon was one of the eighteen drivers who got a first glimpse of the highly anticipated F1 film, featuring Lewis Hamilton in a significant role, at its premiere. The general public will have to wait a bit longer, but for those who enjoy spoilers, there’s good news: the Haas driver, who thoroughly enjoyed the film, inadvertently spilled the beans in Monaco.
The long-awaited Formula 1 film, F1, is set to premiere in June. Last Wednesday, the Formula 1 drivers had the opportunity to attend the film’s premiere. Lewis Hamilton, who contributed to the film as a producer and technical advisor, was among the attendees. Notably absent were Lance Stroll and Max Verstappen, who opted to skip the movie night to stream a session on the Twitch platform.
Non-Disclosure Agreement
For now, the drivers must keep their lips sealed: they are bound by a non-disclosure agreement until the worldwide release on June 25. However, not everyone managed to adhere to this, as Esteban Ocon let slip some details in Monaco. “First of all, I told Lewis: it’s incredibly immersive, especially the scenes where they’re driving the cars. I think that’s truly fantastic, we’ve never seen anything like it before. There are some great racing scenes, like the one in Daytona, with good battles on the inside and moments like that,” he began his story.
The Frenchman immediately noticed the influence of his colleague Lewis Hamilton on the film. “At times, there were things that didn’t quite make sense to us as drivers. But I can clearly see where Lewis has left his mark and that he really tried to make everything as realistic as possible,” Esteban Ocon praised. “What I particularly like is that the final race is not won by immediately taking off at the start, but because all sorts of things happen: they don’t make Q3, there’s a red flag, and they choose a strategically good moment for new tires.”
Hollywood Influence
When asked what Ocon would have preferred to see differently, the Haas driver mentioned the crashes. “At times, you really feel that Lewis has pushed to keep it as super realistic as possible, but there are also parts that they’ve made a bit more Hollywood. Of course, it needs to grab everyone’s attention, but I would have liked it to be a bit more race-focused at some points, with perhaps fewer crashes and more real racing,” he explained.
Ocon is convinced that the film will draw a massive audience to the cinema. “Overall, it’s by far the best racing film of all time, which I think is going to be a huge success. I appear quite often in it, but I’m glad I didn’t have too many incidents with Sonny Hayes,” he adds with a smile.
