{"id":807276,"date":"2026-07-18T01:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T01:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/807276\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T01:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T01:47:11","slug":"lewis-hamilton-has-michael-jordan-mentality-says-f1-movie-star-damson-idris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/807276\/","title":{"rendered":"Lewis Hamilton has Michael Jordan mentality, says “F1” movie star Damson Idris"},"content":{"rendered":"

British actor Damson Idris has likened seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton<\/a> to basketball icon Michael Jordan.<\/p>\n

Idris, who starred as rookie driver Joshua Pearce alongside Brad Pitt in F1 The Movie, recently appeared on the F1 Beyond The Grid podcast<\/a>. Having spent two years immersed in the grand prix paddock, the actor forged a close relationship with Hamilton, who served as an executive producer on the blockbuster.<\/p>\n

When asked by podcast host Tom Clarkson if working closely with the Ferrari<\/a> driver had provided unique insight into his success, Idris explained: “Yeah, 100%. He has that Michael Jordan thing, that it’s him against him. He’s not in competition with anyone else.<\/p>\n

“He’s really focused, and he cares about legacy. I can see it because I see those remnants in other fields. We talk about Michael Jordan, we talk about Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, but we talk about actors like Daniel Day-Lewis. Those people who just absolutely wholeheartedly commit to their craft are always going to excel over everyone else. And that’s what Lewis does.<\/p>\n

“I sent him a text when he won at Barcelona. I was like, ‘Get in. Let’s go!’ And he was like, ‘Oh man, everything’s crazy. Damn, son.’ He calls me ‘Damn, son.’<\/p>\n

“He’s always just so excited about the thing that he loves, despite how long he’s been doing it.”<\/p>\n

\"Damson <\/p>\n

Damson Idris at the World Premiere of F1 The Movie<\/p>\n

Photo by: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Idris revealed that he first met Hamilton at The Fashion Awards.<\/p>\n

“I met Lewis through the fashion industry. I met him at The Fashion Awards and then I remember the first race I went to was in Budapest and I thought he was a mate, ‘Oh, we had that great night out at the fashion event, so now I’m in his world and I’m going to say hello.'”<\/p>\n

But having realised Hamilton had his headphones on and was in the zone ahead of the race, he stopped himself from approaching the British driver.<\/p>\n

“That’s when I realised this is not a joke for him,” Idris added. “This is really, really serious, and this is why he’s excelled and is so great.”<\/p>\n

F1 The Movie, which was directed by Joseph Kosinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, was released in June 2025. Since its release, it has grossed over $634million at the global box office, and there is already talk of a potential sequel.<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British actor Damson Idris has likened seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton to basketball icon Michael Jordan. Idris,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,814,817,376206,826,813,816,823,381165,381166,85,1511],"class_list":["post-807276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-belgian-gp","tag-f1","tag-f1-belgian-grand-prix","tag-ferrari","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-lewis-hamilton-has-michael-jordan-mentality","tag-says-f1-movie-star-damson-idris","tag-sports","tag-trendingteam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}