Brad Pitt’s F1 movie was supposed to be Simone Ashley's biggest role. She was cut from it completely.

It's one of the most highly anticipated films of the year.

F1, Brad Pitt's high-octane passion project, has just come out with exactly the kind of fanfare you'd expect from a movie that has the backing of Apple, a multi-million-dollar budget, and an all-star cast including Javier Bardem and literal Formula 1 royalty. 

But someone is missing from it: Simone Ashley.

Yes, the Simone Ashley — of Bridgerton and Sex Education fame, red carpet regular and undeniable rising Hollywood star.

Technically, she does appear in the film. In the background. With no lines. No storyline. And no credit worthy of the months she spent on set, the interviews she's given hyping up the project and the space she's devoted on her Instagram feed to the film. 

Simone has been posting images from filming for months. Image: Instagram/@simoneashley.

It was supposed to be the 30-year-old's biggest role yet — her casting in F1 was even sensationally announced in a Variety exclusive in July last year — but instead, her appearance in the film unceremoniously ended up on the cutting room floor. 

For months, Ashley has been spotted filming trackside. She was spotted at the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November, Abu Dhabi in December and was also present at this year's Monaco race. She's been promoting the film in thoughtful interviews for months, even praising the film's director and celebrating the growing presence of women in motorsport in an interview with GLAMOUR last year. 

"Joseph Kosinksi, our director, was also so open to hearing my ideas about the character and what it means to be a female character within a story like this," she said. 

"I love seeing more women in the driver's seat."

As recently as March, Ashley told Who What Wear she was "grateful" to have been part of such a big film, sharing that filming was "amazing" and comparing the experience of shooting amongst real-life Formula 1 races to live theatre. 

"You hear the crowd and the fireworks and the cars. Everything's just so fast-paced and noisy, and we're all together as a little unit. It was just one of the craziest things I think I've ever been part of," she said.

The actress shared a post when filming wrapped after the Abu Dhabi GP. Image: Instagram/@simoneashley.

But three months later, here we are. Those "crazy" moments have been reduced to barely a whisper of the actress on screen.  

When asked about his decision to axe an entire character from the final cut, director Joseph Kosinski trotted out the familiar filmmaker fallback: too many storylines, not enough time. 

"It happens on every film," he told PEOPLE. 

"But Simone, she's an incredible talent, incredible actress, incredible singer, and I would love to work with her again."

But this praise doesn't quite land when the reality is that Simone spent months of her life working on (and promoting) a film that she's not really in. 

This was supposed to be her biggest role yet; her breakout beyond Bridgerton. And now she has no film credits to show for the months she sunk into the project. It's a waste of her time, when she is at such an important point in her career.

While film and Formula 1 might seem worlds apart, they share the same ruthless DNA — careers made or broken in an instant, often for reasons that have very little to do with talent. Visibility, timing and who's deemed "marketable" can mean everything. 

Listen to The Spill hosts discuss the F1 Movie and its controversies. Story continues below.

Just ask F1 driver Jack Doohan, who was cut from Alpine's program after just seven races despite years of promise and practice. Or Liam Lawson, who was shafted from his Red Bull seat and demoted to junior team Racing Bulls after two less-than-impressive starts.

The same thing happens in Hollywood — just look at Simone Ashley, who spent months on a high-profile set only to be quietly sidelined when the final cut dropped. 

Simone attended a Formula 1 event alongside the movie's other stars and producers, and big F1 names, last month. Image: Getty

It's one thing to be cut for creative reasons — that's the name of the game. But casting an actor of colour to boost buzz, broaden appeal, and lend diversity points to a very male, very white project, only to cut her when it counts? That's not just ruthless. It's performative.

Her fans are, understandably, furious.

"I won't be watching it cause they lied to us," read one comment on a TikTok video revealing the news that Simone was suspiciously absent from the film. 

"She deserves better," said another, while another admitted she was "the entire reason I was gonna watch this movie". 

Honestly? We kind of feel the same. 

But here's the part that's a little harder to stomach: this isn't the first time director Kosinski has been accused of sidelining BIPOC actors when it comes to his final cuts. 

Filipino-Canadian actor Manny Jacinto (most recognisable for his role as Jason Mendoza on The Good Place) underwent months of extensive and physically gruelling pilot training and filmed multiple scenes for Top Gun: Maverick.

He even spoke of his excitement at being able to represent fellow Filipinos he'd met training with the Navy and Air Force.

But when the film premiered, he discovered his part had been trimmed down to a few seconds of background footage — no lines, no arc and certainly no representation. 

"It kind of fuels you, because at the end of the day, Tom Cruise is writing stories for Tom Cruise," he said of the controversy. 

"It's up to us — Asian Americans, people of colour — to be that [for ourselves]. We can't wait for somebody else to do it. If we want bigger stories out there, we have to make them for ourselves."

While Ashley herself has yet to comment on her significantly smaller role in F1, she has echoed similar sentiments in the past, speaking about the lack of representation in the industry and even launching her own production company to tell different stories. Ones where women who look like her are the lead.

Her 2025 film Picture This, which she executive produced, was inspired by the rom-coms she never saw herself in growing up. 

"This one meant a lot to me," she said. 

Simone starred in and executive produced 'Picture This'. Image: Amazon Prime Video.

Simone's role being cut from F1 gets even more frustrating when you realise the only major female character who made the final edit is a race engineer who — wait for it — has an inappropriate workplace relationship with Brad Pitt.

In a sport already grappling with its own very real, very massive "women problem" (hi, last year's Christian Horner investigation), this feels like a slap in the face and a step backwards. Especially when 2025 marks a genuine milestone: the first year in F1 history with a full-time female race engineer on the grid. 

That could have — and should have — been a moment to celebrate progress. Instead, the film reduces that role to a romantic subplot and sidelines any real female presence altogether. 

As a Formula 1 fan, this stings. The potential was right there — a chance to tell a fresh story in a famously exclusive sport and reflect the real-world changes slowly taking place. Instead, we got more of the same.

So yes, it's a letdown for Simone. It's a letdown for women in motorsport. And it's a letdown for anyone who hoped this film might finally do something different.

Because it turns out the fastest thing in F1 isn't the cars — it's how quickly women, and more specifically, women of colour, can be pushed to the sidelines.

Feature image: Getty.