The racing scenes in Brad Pitt's new "F1" movie are impressively authentic, but the filmmakers have also made much of how the sport's past is woven into the plot — with a hefty slice of Hollywood artistic license.

"We just drew from history. A little this, a little that, then we had Lewis Hamilton keep us straight," Pitt commented at a New York premiere ahead of this week's general release in cinemas.

Apple's senior vice president of services Eddy Cue, a lifelong Formula One fan and Ferrari board member, told reporters after a media screening that "there's not a single event in here ... that hasn't happened in a real race."