Pete Hamilton settled on a Hollywood film

to live

Lewis Hamilton dined with Hollywood pal Brad Pitt ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix as the pair continue to work on a blockbuster Formula 1 film.

Hamilton, 37, is filming a new film in which Pitt will play a former driver who comes out of retirement to train an up-and-coming talent.

Apple bought the rights to the $140 million (A$222 million) film.

Hamilton and Pitt, 58, were joined by Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali in a private room at Eddie V’s Prime Seafood Restaurant in downtown Austin on Thursday night.

Greg Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media – the American company that owns F1 – was there along with Hamilton’s father Anthony and stepmother Linda.

Joseph Kosinski is the man behind it Top Gun: Maverick, who will direct the F1 movie – was also in attendance.

Pitt then met with other team principals at the Circuit of the Americas on Friday to brief them on the film, which F1 chiefs hope will be as successful as Netflix’s hit series Drive to Survive.

Hamilton, a film consultant, returned to the more familiar surroundings of his Mercedes cockpit to practice at a track he has won five times.

But the British driver is running out of time to ensure his record of winning at least one race in every season he has competed in remains intact.

Just four rounds remain in the championship hosted by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen two weeks ago in Japan.

Mercedes brought more upgrades to America than any other team, with a new front and rear wing and a revised floor to give Hamilton hope he has the car to challenge Verstappen and his all-conquering team.

However, the seven-time world champion knows that there have been false dawns before.

“We’ll try everything, as we always do,” Hamilton said. “But I don’t want to get my hopes up.”