Latest news with #Monza
News.com.au
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Is F1: The Movie any good?
Formula 1 fans have so much access to the sport that a fictional production can't match the real highs of racing. The real thing feels far less predictable than Hollywood's drive to milk corporate sponsors and cash in on F1's popularity. All the parts were in place to make F1: The Movie unforgettable. There were superstar actors in Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem, ably supported by Kerry Condon and Damson Idris. A blockbuster director in Joseph Kosinski, fresh from the success of Top Gun: Maverick. Guidance from racing legend Lewis Hamilton and F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali to make sure it didn't run off course. And unprecedented access to the drivers, cars, circuits and trackside action that make Formula 1 the pinnacle of motorsport. The last bit is where F1 fans might feel short-changed. F1 used to be elusive and exclusive. Former boss Bernie Ecclestone was a magician who wowed onlookers without revealing his tricks, putting on a show while keeping the audience at a distance. But the sport has thrown open its doors to live broadcasts, social media, Netflix, podcasts and more that take us deep into the world of Grand Prix racing. We've gone from a couple of hours of racing every other week to an unprecedented level of access to racing's cast and crew. Racing fans can consume countless hours of content each week. That's where F1: The Movie differs from Top Gun: Maverick. There's a lot of mystery surrounding fighter pilots, their jets and missions. Top Gun pulls viewers into a world off-limits to civilians. But F1 offers a fictionalised spin on a world its fans are intimately familiar with. Racing fans are spoiled. It's everywhere you look. And its real stories are better than what Hollywood scripted. F1: The Movie is about a struggling team owner (Ruben Cervantes, played by Javier Bardem) who turns to a retired racing star of the 1990s (Sonny Hayes, played by Brad Pitt) in a desperate ploy to win a race. There's friction from young teammate Joshua (played by Damson Idris) and team technical director Kate (played by Kerry Condon), before everyone works together to get their trophy. It's a poor substitute for the real drama of F1. Fans will never forget the career-defining battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, culminating in the controversy of Abu Dhabi's season finale in 2021. Look at that pair. There's rich material in Verstappen's well-documented struggle with an abusive father, or the way Hamilton's raw talent drove him through adversity. There's Michael Schumacher's tragic skiing accident and his son Mick's ultimately futile drive to follow his path. Or Jack Doohan striving for F1 for his entire life only to be thrown on the scrap heap after half a dozen races. Robert Kubica last week completed a fairytale story by winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans – arguably the world's biggest race – in a Ferrari, years after a near-fatal rally crash prevented him from driving for Ferrari in Formula 1. Hours later, the battle between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris boiled over in Canada. Piastri, ice-cold, unflappable and inscrutable, went wheel to wheel with a Norris plagued by a lack of confidence in his clearly immense ability. My invitation to the Australian premiere of F1: The Movie included a drive of a $400,000 Mercedes-AMG sports car that features in the film, the opportunity to wear the same $45,000 IWC watch shown on screen, and all the alcohol-free Heineken I could drink. Which isn't much. The best racing movies are underpinned by real stories. Rush (2013) faithfully tells the gripping story of James Hunt and Niki Lauda, pitched in a do-or-die battle with brutal consequences. Ford v Ferrari (2019) has Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles beating the odds to win Le Mans, and the biographical Senna (2010) is told with more care than Kosinski managed. I'd even argue Will Ferrell's silly NASCAR flick Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) has more heart, humour and audience appeal than a none-too-convincing Brad Pitt trying to climb onto the podium. Sure, the film might give F1 a further bump in popularity. But fans won't find much beyond what they already see on Grand Prix Sundays.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Report – Inter Milan Draw Up Three-Player Shortlist To Replace Hakan Calhanoglu
Inter Milan have identified Nicolo Rovella, Ederson, and Samuele Ricci as a three-player shortlist to replace Hakan Calhanoglu. This according to today's print edition of Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, via FCInterNews. Advertisement Inter Milan are bracing for the possibility that Hakan Calhanoglu could leave this summer. The Nerazzurri would hope for an offer of at least €40 million for the Turkish international, who is in the sights of Galatasary, So far, the Istanbul giants have only shown a willingness to bid €15 million. However, there is a sense that Galatasaray's push to sign Calhanoglu will only intensify. Therefore, Inter are getting ready to potentially have to replace the 31-year-old. Inter Milan Line Up Rovella, Ederson & Ricci On Shortlist To Replace Calhanoglu MONZA, ITALY – MAY 04: Ederson of Atalanta BC in action during the Serie A match between AC Monza and Atalanta BC at U-Power Stadium on May 04, 2025 in Monza, Italy. (Photo by) According to the Corriere, there are three players on Inter's shortlist of candidates to replace Calhanoglu. And all three of them are from within Serie A. Advertisement First of all, Lazio's Nicolo Rovella would be one option as far as a like-for-like replacement for Calhanoglu. The 23-year-old has a €50 million release clause at Lazio. Therefore, even though the Biancocelesti aren't keen to sell him, if Inter make that offer then they'd be powerless to stop him from leaving. Meanwhile, the Corriere dello Sport report, Atalanta midfielder Ederson is another target for Inter to replace Calhanjoglu. As is Torino's Samuele Ricci.
Top Gear
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Top Gear
F1: The Movie review: "a crowd-pleasing, feel-good blockbuster"
Movies This is Formula One's unabashed love letter to itself... and it's a great read Skip 14 photos in the image carousel and continue reading You could argue that, as a sport, every race in the Formula One calendar is its own self-contained movie. The locations are mostly glamorous, the cast of characters is varied and handsome, there are heroes and villains, and action aplenty. That's the vibe that was so ingeniously mined by Netflix's Drive to Survive , the ultra-glossy quasi-reality show turbocharging the sport's appeal, particularly in America, for years the F1 refusenik. F1: The Movie takes all that equity and fires it into the stratosphere. This is F1's unabashed love letter to itself, a licensed product in a similar vein to the wildly successful Barbie movie. If you've been paying any attention at all, you'll know that the film's cast and crew inserted themselves into the F1 world championship during 2023 and '24, lining up on the grid at Silverstone, Monza and Abu Dhabi, amongst others, and generally doing a remarkable job of blurring real life with fantasy. Was that Brad Pitt in the media pen high-fiving Fernando Alonso after a Grand Prix? Yes it was. Advertisement - Page continues below Pitt, one of the few actors left who can 'open' a movie, plays Sonny Hayes, a journeyman racer we first meet as he contests the Daytona 24 Hours for an old mate. He lives in a converted 50-year old Ford Econoline van, a free spirit and gambler who races on a 'one and done' basis for the thrill of it, and refuses to accept the winner's Rolex. Nice shorthand. But when his old teammate from way back when, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), suddenly reappears, an emotional back story is swiftly sketched in. Hayes was a youthful F1 ace, destined for greatness, until he suffered a career- and almost life-ending accident during a race. We see the footage in flashback, and if it looks a lot like Lotus F1 driver Martin Donnelly's horrific crash at Jerez in 1990, that's because it is. (Donnelly gets a prominent thank you in the closing credits, and rightly so.) You might like Cervantes is now the owner of ailing F1 team, Apex GP, with creditors closing in and a shifty investor called Banning (an amusingly oily Tobias Menzies) scheming in the shadows. Ruben needs an experienced old hand to steady the ship and mentor talented but hot-headed newcomer, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). This is not, it must be said, a wildly original premise. Pitt is better looking and much younger than Obi Wan Kenobi or indeed Yoda, but the story arc follows the age-old pattern. Old-timer arrives to general disbelief, dispenses wisdom and gnarly one-liners, and proceeds to show the nay-sayers how it should be done. Hayes, quickly identified by Apex GP's technical director Kate McKenna (a stand-out performance from the brilliant Kerry Condon) as a 'lone wolf', turns out to be more of a team player than he first appears. Not to mention something of an aerodynamics wizard. Advertisement - Page continues below He's also prone to the sort of maverick driving style that would give today's race stewards chronic heart palpitations He's also prone to the sort of maverick – but of course – driving style that would give today's race stewards chronic heart palpitations. It's all highly entertaining provided you don't drill too deeply into it. It's a rare blockbuster movie indeed in which tyre compounds and the redesign of a racing car's floor provide major plot pivots. We get to see wind tunnels and driver-in-loop simulators at work, and gatecrash team briefings. There's real heart to the story but also wilfully cheesy chunks of dialogue. Look, you've just got to go with it. F1: The Movie is directed by Joseph Kosinski ( Tron: Legacy , Oblivion , Top Gun: Maverick ), a petrol-head and F1 fan, which helps, and a masterful technician of a film-maker, which helps even more. Pitt and his co-star Idris, a charismatic match for the Hollywood A-lister, spent 18 months on and off learning how to drive single-seaters. The Apex F1 cars are actually converted F2 cars, equipped with 360-degree mini-IMAX quality cameras. So the close-ups and long shots of the actors' faces are for real, the action rendered with gut-punch impact by DoP, Claudio Miranda. You can almost feel the cornering Gs, and will find yourself wincing instinctively when the drivers brake. Our friends at Sky F1 do a great job, no question, but Hollywood clearly still has plenty of tricks up its sleeve. As you'd hope, given the film's rumoured $300m budget. (Apple has bankrolled most of it, sparking rumours of a possible bid for the F1 broadcasting rights.) Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox. And so to the tricky question of who this film is really for. There are shades of The Colour of Money here, Martin Scorsese's 1986 masterpiece starring Paul Newman and a young Tom Cruise. But explaining a pool-room hustle is easier than deciphering an F1 race, an expositional task which falls here to Sky F1's redoubtable David Croft and Martin Brundle. F1 newbies might still find themselves floundering, while experts will naturally find ways of spluttering indignantly into their popcorn. There are also cameos from a variety of familiar pit-lane faces, who clearly couldn't resist their big screen moment. Lewis Hamilton, whose company Dawn Apollo was one of the producing partners, personally ensured as much factual and technical accuracy as could reasonably be expected in a mega-budget fictional tale. F1: The Movie hits some high notes, a crowd-pleasing, feel-good blockbuster with old-school heroes to root for. Resistance, ultimately, is futile. F1: The Movie opens in cinemas nationwide on 25 June
Auto Blog
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Auto Blog
Maserati Delivers Multi-Million Dollar 1-of-62 MCXtrema to owner at Monza Circuit
An exclusive affair Maserati's MCXtrema, its track-only variant of the Maserati MC20, is a sight to behold both in photos and in person. With extensive use of carbon fiber, cutting-edge aerodynamics, and a twin-turbocharged Nettuno V6 engine, the 2,756 lb MCXtrema boasts 730 hp sent through a 6-speed sequential manual transmission paired with a mechanical limited slip differential. And yes, it does have air conditioning. Of course, such a special affair must be a limited edition, which is why the MCXtrema is limited to only 62 units, reserved for some of Maserati's most loyal customers. One such lucky owner took delivery of his track beast at none other than the 'Italian Temple of Speed,' the Monza Circuit. Maserati MCXTrema — Source: Maserati A delivery experience to remember The car was customized to the owner's taste, with a reported 'Tech Beast' being the overall theme. The body is finished in a gloss-on-matte-effect blue up front and white at the rear, with a Trident on the hood and the number 44 on the door and rear fin. The interior sports a dark blue color with options like the passenger seat kit, rearview camera, and extra fan kit. Maserati MCXTrema — Source: Maserati 'MCXtrema is the ultimate expression of Maserati's DNA: a perfect mix of racing tradition, passion, and relentless innovation. To see this extraordinary car brought to life for a customer is a source of pride for the entire brand,' said Maria Conti, Head of Maserati Corse. Autoblog Newsletter Autoblog brings you car news; expert reviews and exciting pictures and video. Research and compare vehicles, too. Sign up or sign in with Google Facebook Microsoft Apple By signing up I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . You may unsubscribe from email communication at anytime. In addition to receiving the MCXtrema directly from Maserati's Chief Test Driver and multiple world champion racer Andrea Bertolini, the lucky owner also took part in what Maserati calls the 'MCXperience.' According to the automaker, this gives the owner the privilege of learning about what their car can do on track from professional drivers and Maserati Corse techs. Of course, it wouldn't be right to take such a car on track without the proper gear, so Maserati offered the owner a Sparco Racing Kit with a Maserati-branded racing suit, shoes, a helmet, and gloves. Maserati MCXTrema — Source: Maserati Final thoughts Maserati has been on a roll with their models lately, and the MCXtrema is one hell of a deal. I was privileged enough to see its unveiling in person at Monterey Car Week, and it's not something I'm likely to forget. It's also a really lovely gesture when automakers like Maserati arrange such special delivery events for their customers, although when you pay somewhere in the millions for a car like this, it's to be expected. Maserati MCXTrema About the Author Gabriel Ionica View Profile
News.com.au
13-06-2025
- Automotive
- News.com.au
Lewis Hamilton hits out amid ‘nonsense' report Ferrari boss is set to be sacked
Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton has leapt to the defence of team principal Fred Vasseur following reports he could be sacked before the end of the Formula 1 season. Both Hamilton and his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc have had a season to forget to date, with neither driver bagging a race win in 2025. Leclerc has scored a podium only three times in nine races, while Hamilton is yet to podium at all, with his best finish being a fourth. Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every qualifying session and race in the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship™ LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer. Ferrari sit almost 200 points behind McLaren in the constructors' standings and they haven't won a race since Mexico last season, leading to speculation Vasseur could be axed, with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner linked as a possible replacement. Vasseur arrived in 2023 after replacing Mattia Binotto and had been credited as being a calming influence. But with Ferrari expected to challenge for the constructors' championship in 2025, the knives are well and truly out in what has been an underwhelming season to date, with rumours circulating that Vasseur could be gone in a matter of weeks. But Hamilton moved to play down the rumours, throwing his support behind Vasseur and labelled rumours of his potential sacking 'nonsense' 'It's definitely not nice to hear that there are stories like that, that are out there,' Hamilton said ahead of the Canadian GP this weekend. 'Firstly, I love working with Fred. Fred is the main reason I'm in this team and got the opportunity to be here, for which I'm forever grateful for. 'And we're in this together. We're working hard in the background. Things aren't perfect. I'm here to work with the team, but also with Fred. I want Fred here. I do believe Fred is the person to take us to the top. 'And so that's that. So it's all, it's ultimately, it's nonsense what people have written. Most people don't know what's going on in the background. And, and it isn't all easy.' When pressed on Vasseur's potential exit, he added: 'I don't think that's on the cards, as far as I'm aware. That's certainly not something that I would be supportive of. 'I'm here to win with Fred. He has my full support.' Hamilton also opened up about his emotional response to his underwhelming result in Spain, which he labelled the 'worst race' of his storeyed career. 'I said on the radio that was the worst feeling car that I'd ever had and it truly was,' Hamilton said. 'At the end of the race I was like, 'Geez, I've never experienced something this bad for such a prolonged time through a race.'' It wasn't until hours later when Hamilton found out through team engineers that there was an issue impacting the Ferraris. 'There was a bit of a relief to hear that,' Hamilton said. Hamilton and Ferrari will look to get their season back on track this weekend at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
