Brad Pitt has a lesson for Formula 1’s green makeover

EVERY film star entering their seventh decade knows they’ve reached an age when they have to play to type. If only venerable sports franchises had the same self-awareness.

F1: The Movie, the Brad Pitt-Formula 1 crossover currently in cinemas, illustrates this contradiction perfectly.

Pitt used to appear as romantic leads and sword-and-sandals heroes, and in comedy turns and art-film roles. As he’s aged into his sixties, that range has been boiled down to its original essence, leaving him typecast as a pretty, and increasingly rugged, maverick. Audiences don’t seem to mind. F1: The Movie saw the biggest US opening for a Pitt vehicle since 2013’s World War Z.