Eagle-eyed viewers of last Sunday's British Grand Prix may have noticed Hollywood star Tom Cruise hanging out in the Mercedes garage, celebrating with the team after Lewis Hamilton's pass on the penultimate lap over Charles Leclerc to seal his 99th Formula One victory in front of a home crowd at Silverstone.
However, something Australian viewers missed out on, or at least those who watch the Sky Sports feed on Fox Sports/Kayo, was a pre-race piece put together by the UK's Channel 4, featuring Cruise and two special guests.
Joining Cruise in an on-track battle between himself and two Porsche 911 GT3s were a duo of two-time British Grand Prix winners – David Coulthard and Mark Webber.
The video begins with Coulthard taking fellow Channel 4 F1 host Steve Jones out on the track, soon joined by Webber (a Porsche brand ambassador) alongside them. Whilst joking about who is whose wingman, a third GT3 splits between them, driven by Cruise.
What follows is a range of movie references – specifically based around the 1986 hit Top Gun in which Cruise starred as hot-shot pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell – while he engages Webber, Coulthard and Jones in a dog fight around Silverstone, of course with copious amounts of Kenny Loggins songs playing in the background.
F1 fans will appreciate the digs at Webber, such as Cruise calling him "not bad for a number two driver" (the line Webber used after winning the 2010 British GP) as well as bringing up Multi 21, instantly enraging Australians with memories of the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix.
In the end, everyone comes over all lovey-dovey, breaking into a rendition of 'You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin'' by the Righteous Brothers, although there's no Kelly McGillis around to serenade.
Cruise is set to reprise his role as Pete Mitchell in Top Gun: Maverick, set to be released in November this year, some 35 years after the original film's debut.
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