Prior to the movie’s world premiere, the actor also shared his love of cars and memorable moments on track

Damson Idris is feeling fortunate. The 33-year-old British-Nigerian actor, best known for his starring role in the six-season FX series Snowfall, is thrilled to be co-starring opposite Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem in the new Apple Original Films release, F1 The Movie. But since the native of South London is a lifelong car fan, he is also floored by the circumstances he found himself in while filming, which granted him insider access to a range of Formula 1 circuits during the 2023 racing season.

“To be given the opportunity to drive F1 cars on these tracks during real grands prix, I don’t think any other actor is as lucky as I am right now,” Idris tells Robb Report in a one-on-one chat just days before the movie’s premiere at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. “Going from racetrack to racetrack, it was unlike anything I could ever imagine. The first time we did it, I said to myself, ‘Okay, this is the happiest moment of my life.’”

This exalted experience is certainly a long way from the self-described “dirt poor” theater actor’s early automotive adventures. His first car was a budget Renault Mégane, inherited from his older sister. After that, he drove a highly used VW Golf hatchback, then a BMW 1-Series he paid for with student loans. “Everything went on the finance, because I loved cars,” he says.

Eventually, when his FX series hit, he splurged. “On the first season, they paid me, and I was like, ‘Where’s that M3?’ My entire life I wanted a BMW M3. So I got it, a hardtop convertible,” he says. Idris has since become a big Mercedes-Benz fan, as well as a brand ambassador for the German automaker, whose vehicles—and especially logo—appear frequently in the film F1. “After that, my big splurge was a Mercedes G-Wagen, and that’s just like my favorite baby,” he says. “I have one today as well.”

Of course, his experience driving on some of the world’s most challenging tracks, in a specially formulated race car, was not without incident. “I mean, we had some spins man,” Idris says, laughing. He experienced one in Budapest, following the circuit’s second turn. “Luckily, there’s no crowd at Turn 2,” notes Idris.

Worse was to come at the Circuit of the Americas. “I had a crazy spin in Austin, Texas, that went through turns 12, 13, and 14,” he says, eyebrows raised. “If you’re spinning on three turns . . . ,” he trails off, hiding his head in his hands.

But all this trouble didn’t diminish his affection. “The last time I had learned that I was going to be driving the cars, I think it was in Abu Dhabi. And I teared up. I actually teared up,” he says. “I was with Brad [Pitt] the other day and we were talking about it,” says Idris, referring to driving on the track. “And we miss it.”

Still, none of these challenges compared with those posed by making a movie, in public, with his co-star. “Brad Pitt is arguably one of the most famous people in the world. So, when we were filming, people would run up to him in the middle of a shot to get a selfie,” Idris says. Fortunately, the two of them were playing F1 drivers, a highly exclusive and lauded set. “So, fans running in to take selfies, we could use some of that in the movie” Idris says.

Speaking of famous drivers, Idris was able to tap the knowledge of one the best known, and the best, racers of all time, Lewis Hamilton, who is a producer on the movie, and appears in it. “Lewis would come by set loads of times, and we’d sit in the trailers and he’d call BS on what was in the scripts, like, ‘That would never happen,’” Idris says, grinning. “But above all things, it was just really positive energy and passion that he brought on set. He was just such an invaluable asset. I mean, who better to tell you if you’re doing it right or not?”

And though he’s loved cars and racing since his youth, Idris still managed to learn something about race cars from making this film. “If you drive too slow, you actually damage the car . . . that was a big thing I learned about the engines of Formula 1 cars,” says Idris, “you actually need to drive fast in order to drive safe.”

This story was first published on Robb Report USA. Featured photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Pictures