Years before the world-renowned documentary series Formula 1: Drive to Survive made its way to the spotlight, there was a time when F1 drivers, including seven-time world champions Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher, were making sneaky cameo roles in one of the most famous Disney trilogies, Cars.
While the first edition of the Cars trilogy had the legendary Ferrari driver making a brief appearance in a Scarlet Red Ferrari road car during the post-credit scene, Cars 2 reportedly portrayed Hamilton as a 2009 Grand Touring Sports Special GBG Racer. The Mercedes champion can be seen in a flashy-looking Black McLaren MP4 with a glimpse of inspiration from the 2004 Chrysler ME.
Hence, upon witnessing the unique crossover between entertainment and motorsport, several fans swarmed onto social media and reacted to the Briton’s cameo. One of the fans even pointed out the facial resemblance between the real and the reel Hamilton. The Instagram user commented, “They did him dirty with the teeth bro.”
View this post on Instagram
Another user wrote, “The tooth gap.” Meanwhile, a fan even used a crying emoji along with the comment “Not the gap.” Regardless of the fan comments, it was ultimately a boasting appearance by Hamilton in the movie.
Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher’s brief cameo in the Cars movie
Let’s start with Hamilton. The seven-time world champion makes his appearance just over 20 minutes into the movie. Owen Wilson, the voice of protagonist Lightning Mcqueen, can be seen quite excited about meeting Hamilton, as the duo engage in small talk before the camera pans away towards another lead character of the film.
Interestingly though, Disney used Hamilton’s voice for the English version of the movie. However, for the Spanish version, it’s Fernando Alonso lending his voice, while for the German version, it’s Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton’s name will also pop up in their latest addition to the Cars saga, although the Briton doesn’t really show up on the screen this time around.
Now, moving on to Schumacher’s cameo, the German legend makes a brief appearance in the first chapter of Cars. Schumacher can be seen entering a tire store with a couple of other Ferraris, but, of course, the legend remains in the spotlight throughout the scene.
To this day, Cars remains the only movie that featured over four Formula 1 drivers, all of whom were world champions. Hence, will the upcoming Hollywood movie ‘Apex’ supersede the count and feature more F1 drivers on the screen? Only time will tell.