Formula 1 commissioned Jump Cut Editors to oversee full post-production on a series of films capturing Brad Pitt’s drive in a 2023 McLaren F1 car at Circuit of the Americas, directed by Jake Vaughan.
Jump Cut founder Alex Holden led the editorial operation, managing end-to-end post-production under an accelerated schedule designed for digital platforms. His responsibilities included media management, sync mapping, story development, editing, grading, audio mixing and final delivery.
From Pitt Lane to Post-Production
Across the two-day shoot in Austin, the crew amassed more than 8TB of material from 19 cameras—capturing not only onboard footage and pit-lane activity, but also drone passes, trackside angles, and extensive behind-the-scenes coverage.
At the wheel of the McLaren MCL60, Brad Pitt—portraying Sonny Hayes for F1: The Movie—completed a private test session supported by McLaren engineers and guided by Lando Norris, merging a major film production with the operations of a live F1 team.
Four Films Delivered in Two Weeks
Within a two-week window, Alex delivered four distinct high-end films:
- 25-minute documentary film (cut in just 6 days!!)
- 60 second hype reel
- An onboard lap edit combining cockpit and BTS footage
- A team-radio-focused feature
Jump Cut’s Jamie Cooke also produced additional short-form content to support Formula 1’s social channels.
The project has become one of the most ambitious editorial undertakings within Formula 1’s own media output. The main documentary surpassed 1 million views in under 24 hours, trended on YouTube, and is now approaching 8 million views. Alex Holden commented on the achievement:
“Crafting work of this scale—managing so much footage, multiple deliverables, and so little time—was a real challenge. I’m immensely proud of what we created. It was a true team effort.”
