Damson Idris’ introduction to Formula 1 started in a familiar way for most sports fans — playing the F1 video game with his brothers.
The British actor’s love for the sport didn’t take the next step until 2018, when he attended his first race (the Hungarian Grand Prix, which he recalls Lewis Hamilton won). From there, he became “hooked,” he said in an exclusive interview with The Athletic, and began watching the races more frequently. Little did he know that he’d one day work closely with the man who stood on the top of the podium.
Idris carried on with his acting career and fandom, but four years later, Idris caught wind of the Jerry Bruckheimer and Joseph Kosinski project — the eventual blockbuster success “F1 The Movie.” Idris “locked in,” his passion for the sport becoming more personal and evolving through his role as rookie driver Joshua Pearce.
“Before the project, my focus really was on the drivers. I didn’t really know too much about the intricacies of the sport and just how much detail and how much of a team effort it is for each team,” Idris explained. “And then after filming the movie is when I really understood that it really takes a village to pull this off, and I just found a deeper respect for the sport, really.
“Before, (I thought) it was (just) Lewis Hamilton, and he builds the car and he fixes it and he pushes it to the starting line. No, it’s a team effort. I really love the sport because of that.”
The F1 movie, which also starred Brad Pitt and was co-produced by Hamilton, knocked the global box office numbers off the charts and scooped up multiple awards. On Sunday, the film is up for four Oscar nominations. It is the latest development in F1’s “fashiontainment” era, as the pop culture movement continues to overlap with sport. And it opened the doors for Idris to develop closer ties to F1.
Damson Idris appears in a still from his F1 2026 launch video. (Courtesy F1)
Idris becoming F1’s newest global ambassador is a physical reminder of how much the pinnacle of motorsport has changed in the last six years. A bright tone rang in Idris’ voice when he shared his journey to this moment, his sentences quickening with excitement. It’s not hard to see why F1 wanted him, given his genuine passion and his status at the intersection of entertainment, fashion and culture. The first project in his new role with F1 came in the form of the “All to Drive For” campaign video, which featured Idris and the drivers.
“The alignment is very organic, not only because I did the movie, but just because, as Damson, I’m always going to go to Formula 1 races for the rest of my life, because I love Formula 1,” Idris said. “So if I could partner with them and push the sport in a direction where people from different areas in the world are able to get into the sport and also be inspired, then I think that’s a job well done.
“It’s obviously huge in Europe. They’re still catching over in the States. They’re still catching over in Africa and other regions. And I want to be a part of that bridge that connects the sport to those areas.”
Idris had to be all in for the movie role, too. After wrapping up his last major project, a television series called “Snowfall,” Idris said he was keen to play a sportsperson, and the audition process for “F1 The Movie” was unlike anything he had experienced. He was put in various cars, such as the F3000 and JP-LM two-seater, to assess his driving ability and drift work. In “F1 The Movie,” he and Pitt did their own driving scenes, trained by professionals and former drivers.
“I let everyone know that, yeah, I was not only excited, but I was also mature,” Idris said, “and that’s what they were looking for, because they knew it was going to be a daunting process to get me and Brad in these cars to a level where we were comfortable to go from track to track and drive in front of hundreds of thousands of people.”
But that was just the driving audition. He also needed to undergo the acting audition process as well, which came in the form of a workshop with Bruckheimer, Kosinski and Lucy Bevan, the casting director.
“We spoke about Joshua and just what it’d be to be a rookie,” Idris said. “I really immersed myself privately in the sport. I shamelessly binged ‘Drive to Survive.’ I know you’re not allowed to say that out loud. I was following all the races. I was driving privately in California. I was doing a bunch of sim work. I was really trying to live the life of a driver as much as I could, so I could really relate and understand the sport as much as possible.”
By April 2023, the public knew Idris would star in the film alongside Pitt, and Idris was immersing himself in the world and life of an F1 driver to learn more about his character. It extended beyond training to eating habits as well. He started at around 85 kg (187 pounds) and ended up being 77 kg (roughly 170 pounds) when the film was done. “That was special,” he says now, joking.
Brad Pitt and Damson Idris look on in the paddock during previews for the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi. (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
The driving escalated as time went on, as they underwent a five-month intense training program across different disciplines, tracks and cars. It began at Rockingham and eventually escalated to Silverstone, Budapest and Circuit of the Americas. The Texas circuit, Idris said, was “the first time that I really felt one with the car and maybe to my own detriment.”
Craig Dolby, a stunt driver and an additional sequence choreographer for the movie, told The Athletic last year about the 360-spin Idris endured while driving the Formula 2 car, which Dolby watched unfold in his mirrors. Idris created a gap to Dolby and tried to close in, only to lose his grip when he got in Dolby’s wash.
The immersion extended beyond the track, with Idris doing similar exercises in the gym, such as focusing on his neck, and eating cleanly. He said, “I tried to transform myself as much as possible, because it wasn’t only about the physicality of it, really. It was about the mind, too. I knew that if I had mentally prepared for this stuff, alongside physically preparing, it was going to bring me closer to feeling like a Formula 1 driver.”
And the actual F1 drivers began investing time into the project, too, even if it was simply popping by to watch or offering words of wisdom. Idris said Hamilton “was instrumental in the state of mind of a driver and the eagerness to want to go quicker.” And George Russell was among the drivers who would go by the set, one moment in Budapest sticking out to Idris to this day. After Idris had a spin at Turn 2, Russell essentially said to the actor, “Oh, don’t worry, mate. Turn 2’s a tricky one to get, right?”
Idris says committing to the world of F1 made him a better actor for the film and made him appreciate the sport he’d grown to love. He recognized how competing in F1 was a lifelong process and dream for these competitors. Idris said, “I could never, ever think that I’d ever come anywhere near to that level of focus. But even if I could pull off 5 percent of it for a movie, that would have been enough, and I think we did a great job at that.”
Once they wrapped filming for the F1 movie, Idris flew to Cape Town, South Africa, for his next movie, “Children of Bone and Blood.” Like the F1 film, it required a strict gym regimen.
But now that filming is finished? “I’m back to eating donuts,” Idris said. “It’s great to be an actor.”
F1 has grown into a cultural phenomenon that resonates across generations and industries as the sport’s popularity blossoms worldwide. Case in point: The drivers are becoming superstars like Idris and Pitt. As Idris said, the drivers have always been stars, but it’s risen to a new level in recent years — though it’s crucial that the cars and driving remain the top priority.
But he reckons F1 is reaching a reinvention point, similar to what the NFL, the NBA and soccer have gone through, and he’s hoping to be part of the bridge that connects F1 with different industries, such as fashion and entertainment.
“People of all ages, people of all backgrounds, are not only trying to consume the sport, but get into the sport,” Idris said. “Different types of drivers, different types of teams. I think it’s just going to make it more exciting. This thing needs to be for everyone. It needs to be global. That’s how we save humanity, and that’s how we really have empathy for one another, and we’re all able to come together and enjoy something together.”
