Hamilton launches film and TV company but says he won’t stop racing “for a while”

Lewis Hamilton’s extracurricular portfolio outside of Formula 1 is continuing to grow, as he is now launching a television production company.

First revealed in an interview with Deadline, the seven-times world champion explained why he is expanding his business interests and how it links to his upcoming Apple TV-produced film starring Brad Pitt as an F1 driver.

Hamilton already works in food, fashion and American Football, the latter via an ownership stake in the Denver Broncos team. He is also working with Top Gun: Maverick director Joe Kosinski on his F1-themed movie.

“We have a couple of great projects in the works with Apple TV+. One is the documentary and the other is the F1 movie we’re making with Brad Pitt and Joe Kosinski,” Hamilton said.

The release of the second project from his Apple collaboration, the documentary about Hamilton’s own career, “will most likely be at the end of 2023 or early 2024”.

The newly launched production company, which will be called Dawn Apollo Films, is currently “in the process” of hiring, said Hamilton, who stressed “it’s important for us to find a diverse team”. It is separate to the work taking place with Apple, which Hamilton “would love to do more” of and with who “there is an opportunity for us to do more and we’re trying to find more inspiring stories”.

Hamilton reassured that racing in F1 remains his main focus for the foreseeable future, and has already spoken publicly and with Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff about his wish to extend his F1 driving career for several more years. He made it clear Dawn Apollo Films is part of the work he is doing to prepare himself for life after his F1 career.

“I’ve spoken to people who have said: ‘Look, when I stopped it all came crashing down. I wasn’t prepared to do other things. I hadn’t taken time to learn any other crafts, other skills. I don’t know what my other passions are, so, I didn’t really focus on trying to understand what those are and create pillars’.

“So, when I do stop racing — which I don’t plan on doing for a while, I still feel I’m in a good place — I want it to be seamless. I want to be able to move on to fully focus on Dawn Apollo Films and to be able to jump in at a similar level to what I’ve been used to.”

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