F1 actress did real pit stop at British Grand Prix

One of the stars of F1: The Movie said it was "mad" she got to perform a real pit stop during last year's British Grand Prix.

Callie Cooke plays Jodie for Brad Pitt's fictional APXGP team.

The production had a fully operational garage situated in a real F1 pit lane at the Silverstone Circuit, in Northamptonshire, during the 2023 and 2024 grand prix.

Cooke, who grew up in Northampton, said: "Because of the Northamptonshire-Silverstone connection, it feels so special and so real, it's just been the coolest thing."

Pitt, 61, plays fictional veteran driver Sonny Hayes, a former star returning to the grid after a long absence.

The film opened at the end of last month and has been an international box office hit.

As well as filming during the grand prix races, Silverstone was also used for driving training and much of the first half of the film.

Cooke, 31, said Pitt "loved working in Northamptonshire and Silverstone".

She told BBC Radio Northampton's Bernie Keith: "It was our home for at least a year. We were pretty much living there.

"[Pitt] loved it and he loved the crew and he has such a British sense of humour."

The actress, who has previously starred in Doctor Who and Netflix drama The Stranger, said her final audition was at Carlin Motorsport in Farnham, Surrey.

She said: "I spent the day there and I was changing the tyres and I was changing the oil, changing the wing of the car, and just seeing if I could exist in the world of a garage.

"I think it did kind of help growing up in Northampton and not far from Silverstone because I do know a lot of people that work with cars, and I just got stuck in that garage.

"I knew that if I was going to play a woman in this male-dominated industry, I was just going to have to hold my own and get stuck in, and I think maybe that's how I got the job."

Cooke then trained to be part of the team and said she was "the only actor in the pit crew and all of the other guys were mechanics or engineers or worked in motor sports or stunt guys".

She said at the British Grand Prix in 2024: "We did a real pit stop in between Mercedes and Ferrari, and we did it as quick as the other teams.

"It was just mad. I don't know how they ever let us get away with it, to be honest."

Cooke said working in and around real F1 teams and at real grand prix races was a "once-in-a-lifetime experience" for the cast and crew.

"It was one of the best experiences of my life."

Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.