Lewis Hamilton’s unexpected Oscar moment as Ferrari era hits the track

Lewis Hamilton is up for a surprising honour as he prepares for his second season with Ferrari in Formula One.

It’s an Oscar.

As the seven-time world champion completes his first track laps of 2026 at Barcelona in Spain, it’s all about the Oscars in Hollywood, California.

And that’s where Hamilton enters the action, as one of the producers of the grand prix movie, F1.

The movie has received four nominations for Academy Awards including a nod for the big one, Best Picture.

Brad Pitt failed to get a nomination for his acting and driving as Sonny Hayes in F1, with the Oscar nominations focussed on the technical side of the movie.

It is nominated in the Visual Effects, Sound and Film Editing categories.

If it wins the Oscar for Sound, it will be partly thanks to seven-times world champion Hamilton, who got deeply involved in ensuring the sound track was accurate – matching recorded F1 engine sounds to the artificial action.

But there is nothing artificial in Barcelona this week, although few details have emerged from the first official pre-season running for 2026 as teams prepare for a new year with major technical changes.

It’s the start of a massive re-set for F1 – with cars that are smaller, lighter and now have a bigger hybrid battery pack – and a potential shake-up of the grid.

Audi is also coming into F1 as a full manufacturer after a buy-out of the former Sauber team, Cadillac becomes the 11th team – but using a Ferrari powertrain, Honda becomes the official powertrain supplier to Aston Martin, and Ford has a new technical tie-up with Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls.

“Everything is new under these regulations and the cars are very different to what we’ve been used to, with lower downforce, so there’s a lot to learn,” said Lewis Hamilton.

But the early action has included the first significant crash of the year, as Isack Hadjar escaped unhurt from a prang in the new Red Bull racer in his first hit-out as Max Verstappen’s new team mate for 2026.

And there were some significant absences, as a number of grand prix teams – led by Williams – stayed away after delays in completing its 2026 contender.