Cinema Lounge Reviews

As Netflix’s popular series Drive To Survive series kicked off last week following the behind the scenes drama of the F1 paddock and with the first Grand Prix of the season starting this weekend, Formula One is just one corner away. So, whilst we all anxiously wait for the start of one of the most exciting seasons of F1 to begin, we thought we’d take a look at some of Hollywood’s biggest stars to have walked in the F1 paddock.

Formula One reopened its doors last season finally letting more and more fans back into its stands after an unusual 2020 season because of the coronavirus pandemic. Many of last year’s races featured a variety of celebrities from different industries. Most of them appeared at the 2021 United States Grand Prix with the likes of Rory Mcllroy, Shaquille O’Neal, William Fichtner and Travis Scott. The Italian Grand Prix and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix were also home to some well-known celebrity appearances.

Cameron Diaz

The action hero, Cameron Diaz, is a big-name in the action film area starring alongside Tom Cruise for their film Knight And Day and for her more well-known role in the 2000s Charlie’s Angels franchise. She’s been in countless titles in a variety of genres in her career and I bet most of you know her for her appearance as Princess Fiona in the legendary Shrek movies. So its no wonder that an action superstar like herself also made an appearance at the 2013 Monaco Grand Prix where Nico Rosberg took the win.

Owen Wilson

Yes, that’s right, even Lightning McQueen himself attended a race in the past. The actor appeared on the podium at the 2017 British Grand Prix alongside Lewis Hamilton (who also starred in Cars with Owen), Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen. Not only that but he then got the privilege of interviewing the race winner, Lewis Hamilton himself.

David Hasselhoff

When a movie icon rocks up at a Formula One Grand Prix, you know that it’s going to be a special race. The legend is famous for his roles in the original Baywatch series and Knight Rider. But what many of you may not know about the actor is that he loves his cars and has previously owned a 1960 Mercedes-Benz 190SL, 1986 Porsche 928, 2016 BMW Alpina B6 Gran Coupe and a 2017 Cadillac Escalade. Not only does he love his cars but was also a guest at Red Bull Racing for the 2013 Italian Grand Prix.

Will Smith

Will Smith is one of the biggest names in the film industry whos been in too many titles to name in his career with some of his most famous roles being in Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the Bad Boys movies and the Men In Black film franchise. Away from his daily work as an extraordinary actor, he’s also a motorsports superfan. Will Smith’s biggest appearance was at the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the season finale as a guest for Mercedes. He even filmed a short skit before the Grand Prix started with Lewis Hamilton and even one of Hollywood’s biggest movie directors ever Michael Bay got involved. Yes, that’s right even one of the world’s most renowned movie directors made an unplanned appearance at the Mercedes hospitality centre where Lewis and Will were filming and even took charge of the short skit himself.

George Lucas

Okay okay, so George Lucas isn’t exactly an actor but he’s only the creator of the entire Star Wars universe so I think it’s allowed. George Lucas is someone who’s been to many other Formula One races in the past at Austria, British, the United States and Italy where he even interviewed Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa at the 2015 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. One of his most notable appearances at the F1 paddock was at the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix where he teamed up with Red Bull Racing to promote his latest entry into the Star Wars universe at that time which was Episode 3 – Revenge of the Sith. He even brought along some friends from his movies as well.