Max Verstappen allegedly declined to film a scene with Brad Pitt – playing the character of Sonny Hayes – for the F1 movie.

That claim comes from the Telegraph, a scene which would have played out between Pitt and Verstappen in a nightclub, had the reigning four-time World Champion given the go-ahead.

Max Verstappen allegedly snubs Brad Pitt F1 movie scene

After the immense success of Netflix’s Drive to Survive docuseries, Formula 1 hopes to take the next step with the F1 movie, which was released in theatres internationally on June 25 and June 27 in the United States.

Filming for the movie took place within the real-life Formula 1 action, as Apex GP became an unofficial 11th team with Sonny Hayes – portrayed by Brad Pitt – and rookie Joshua Pearce – played by Damson Idris – as the drivers for this team attempting to escape backmarker obscurity and secure its Formula 1 future.

Many Formula 1 drivers and figures appear in the film, including Verstappen, who finds himself in on-track combat with Pearce at a critical juncture of the film.

And Verstappen allegedly could have had a further role to play in the movie, but said no.

According to the Telegraph, Verstappen declined the request to film a scene featuring he and Pitt in a nightclub, Pitt’s ‘Sonny Hayes’ character an unlikely F1 veteran.

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Verstappen has not been overly engaging with the film, having been absent from the special screening to the F1 drivers in Monaco, plus the F1 movie premiere in New York.

Verstappen was unable to make the premiere due to a GT3 test at Spa-Francorchamps – home of the Belgian Grand Prix – which clashed.

Formula 1 is back in action this weekend at the Austrian Grand Prix, fresh off the release of the F1 movie, but Verstappen has not watched it yet.

That is because he was unaware the film was out, claiming he had been scrolling through Apple TV but at no point did it come up.

Asked in a press conference whether he had seen the movie, Verstappen replied: “Is it out?

“I haven’t seen it on Apple TV. I was on Apple TV yesterday. I haven’t seen it pop up.”

Verstappen’s former Red Bull team-mate Pierre Gasly has seen it – offering a positive review – as he encouraged Verstappen to watch.

“I just wanted to tell Max: they show you winning the race at some point, so you definitely should watch it,” said Gasly. “You’re going to enjoy that!

“Personally, I really, really enjoyed it. I think we’ve already made a lot of comments about the movie, so I don’t want to expand too much. But it’s cool and really looking forward to seeing what the people think about it.”

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