Hollywood star Tom Cruise was recently seen performing a pit stop practice back in the Mercedes garage before the 2023 F1 Miami GP. He was invited to the race as a guest by the Silver Arrows and was with them throughout the event. During that time, he was given the opportunity to act as a pit crew member who removes the front left tire from the car during a pit stop.
He performed the pit stop before the race when the pit crew usually practices. The Mercedes F1 Twitter account posted a video of him removing the tire as soon as the wheel gun was done unscrewing it from the car. He was gracefully able to remove the wheel without any hiccups, which was quite impressive.
Hundreds of fans reacted to Tom Cruise working as a pit crew member. They discussed how it was better than Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon's attempt to do a pitstop on their own, where they removed one tire from a NASCAR car.
"He did better than Gasly and Ocon"
Praise for Tom Cruise came from all around.
2023 Miami GP: Tom Cruise was a welcome highlight at an underperforming Mercedes outfit
Lewis Hamilton sounded concerned when he claimed that the Mercedes W14 does not feel different than the car they had in 2022, which was one of their worst in recent history.
The seven-time world champion explained how the cars in the Australian GP and the Azerbaijan GP felt quite good. However, its performance deteriorated in Miami. He speculated that the change in performance could be due to the temperature change or the balance of the car. He said:
"Melbourne obviously was night-and-day difference. Much, much nicer to drive there. Baku felt better than here also. I think maybe the heat or maybe it’s just the balance we have at the moment."
Lewis Hamilton had a poor qualifying session in Miami where he ended up in P13. However, the main race was slightly better as he placed himself in P6. Meanwhile, his teammate, George Russell, had a great weekend as he finished P4.