Max Verstappen was noticeable in his absence at a special screening of the ‘F1’ movie on an evening when ‘Franz Hermann’ was in action for Team Redline.

The F1 drivers, team principals and special guests were given a first viewing of Brad Pitt’s new ‘F1’ movie in Monte Carlo ahead of the weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen was a no-show at the F1 movie screening

But not all 20 drivers attended with Verstappen and Lance Stroll both opting to sit it out.

Verstappen was instead streaming to Twitch with Team Redline back in his apartment under the account name ‘Franz Hermann’.

Revealing that “Franz was very excited for today” as he sat in his rig that featured a new pink steering wheel, the new father was told “he sounds awfully familiar.”

“Oh, does he?” he replied.

Franz Hermann was the alias Verstappen recently used when he lapped the Nordschleife behind the wheel of a Ferrari 296 GT3 in the surprise secret outing.

“They asked me for a fake name, so I said let’s make it as German as possible,” he told media including PlanetF1.com of his choice of pseudonym at Imola last weekend.

“I knew that, once I was there, that people would realise, but at least I wasn’t on the entry list, so at least at 8am/9am it was pretty calm.”

He later joked in a video posted on social media that “Franz is actually having a lot of contract offers at the moment, so he’s actually negotiating his terms for the Nordschleife.”

Nordschleife aside, ‘Franz’ was back behind the wheel, sort of, for Team Redline in iRacing while Verstappen’s rivals had a first look at the F1 movie.

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The ‘F1’ film centers on Sonny Hayes, played by Pitt, a ‘never-was’ racer who washed out of Formula 1 until he’s asked to join the APXGP team to serve as a mentor to a rookie prodigy named Joshua Pearce, played by Damson Idris.

But, adds Formula 1’s press release, ‘as the engines roar, Sonny’s past catches up with him and he finds that in Formula 1, your team mate is your fiercest competition—and the road to redemption is not something you can travel alone.’

The movie, directed by Joseph Kosinski, also stars Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies and Kim Bodnia, and was shot during real-life F1 race weekends as the team took to the track alongside the titans of the sport.

As for the drivers’ thoughts on the movie, Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli said it was “pretty good”, but “long”.

Pierre Gasly “really loved it” while Franco Colapinto called it a “great one.”

George Russell added: “Really enjoyed watching the F1 movie for the first time. Think you’re going to love it!”

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