Brad Pitt drove McLaren's 2023 Formula 1 car during a test at United States Grand Prix venue the Circuit of The Americas ahead of the release of F1: The Movie.
Pitt is starring in F1's blockbuster film, which was released internationally on Wednesday and in America on Friday.
He and co-star Damson Idris were genuinely behind the wheel during many of the film's driving scenes, jumping into the cockpit of Formula 2 cars modified by Mercedes that serve as the fictional APX GP F1 team's cars.
Pitt and Idris’s driving ability was crucial to them being cast, even if some scenes were conducted by professional stunt drivers.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown, who was a small part in the film, offered Academy Award winner Pitt a chance to sample the real thing.
Brown handed Pitt a test in the team's 2023 challenger, the McLaren MCL60, which McLaren uses for its Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programme.
In May, Pitt visited the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking - which is also featured in the movie, dressed up as the base for the APX GP team - for engineering meetings, a seat fit and an "intensive simulator session" to prepare for his on-track debut.
That took place at Austin, with McLaren releasing pictures of Pitt's F1 test debut ahead of this weekend's Austrian GP.
