F1 director Joseph Kosinski hails Brad Pitt's 'natural talent'

Brad Pitt has a lot of "natural talent" as a racing driver, according to F1 director Joseph Kosinski.

The 61-year-old actor starred alongside Damson Idris in the hit sports drama film earlier this year, and Joseph feels fortunate to have worked with such talented performers.

He told People: "Luckily, Brad and Damson actually had a lot of natural talent, so we had a lot to work with. They were really, really good drivers, and you can see that when you see the film."

Despite this, Joseph still felt anxious while shooting scenes on the F1 street circuit in Las Vegas.

The filmmaker explained: "I would say Vegas was really where I was crossing my fingers because again, it was so cold and the tires don't have a lot of grip, and if he made one mistake, he'd be in the wall.

"It was by far the most dangerous thing we did. But [Brad] came through with flying colours, even though [his character] crashes in the film. On the shoot day, he was great."

F1 proved to be a big hit at the box office, grossing more than $600 million worldwide. And Joseph has revealed that he'd jump at the opportunity to make a sequel.

The director said: "Based on the reception of the film, I would love to see what adventures Sonny Hayes is going on to next, and I think the audience would too. So we're actually gonna start talking about that very soon, start kind of coming up with, 'What could that next chapter of his story be?'"

Brad and Damson both worked with Sir Lewis Hamilton on F1, and the 34-year-old actor previously revealed that he relished learning from the former Formula One World Champion, who served as an executive producer on the film.

Damson told BBC 1Xtra: "When it comes to driving he really encouraged me.

"He brought that energy on set that just reminded us of how authentic this movie is and that was always our goal - to make the most authentic racing movie of all time.

"And Lewis is my brother as well so to see him getting his acting bag was so amazing to me."

Despite this, Damson admitted that shooting the action scenes was still challenging for him.

The London-born star - who plays Brad's racing rival in the movie - shared: "You need to remember when you're driving those cars sometimes you're hitting 180 miles per hour. I was moving, it was fire.

"Then on top of that, you got to act within a movie, you've still got to try and look cute."