Ed Sheeran is a massive Formula 1 fan. So massive that he once braved a hot lap with George Russell, who earned his fifth Grand Prix victory in October. The verdict? “It was terrifying,” says the English hitmaker.
That rush, however, no doubt informed “Drive,” the revved-up rocker he contributed to the F1 soundtrack, a Grammy nominee for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.
Co-written by Sheeran and producers Blake Slatkin and John Mayer, the song plays over the film’s final scene and end credits as Brad Pitt‘s Sonny Hayes is zooming across the screen.
The three were able to preview footage from the film and were immediately galvanized, says Slatkin, a Grammy winner who also collaborated with Sheeran on his 2025 album Play. “We just got that adrenaline hit you get when you’re watching it,” he tells Entertainment Weekly.
“As a viewer, it almost felt like you were in the cast,” says Sheeran, “and I think that’s a really difficult thing to achieve in film.”
The film opens with Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love,” which served as the musical reference for the closing, the singer explains. “They wanted guitar-based with lots of riffs and high-energy vocals,” he says of notes from director Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. “I made a list of some of the phrases used throughout the film so I could work them into the song.”
Mayer supplied the mighty riff that propels the tune. “John picked up a guitar with some distortion on it, and that was literally the first thing he played,” says Slatkin. “From there it became about building the melody around it,” says Sheeran.
The trio recruited an all-star team to record the song, including Dave Grohl and Rami Jaffee of Foo Fighters on drums and keys, respectively, and legendary bassist Pino Palladino (The Who, Nine Inch Nails). “We got to make the dream band,” says Slatkin.
“Everyone had seen the scene we were writing for,” says Sheeran of the souped-up energy in the studio. “It was old school — we recorded it all live, which is always exciting, especially when you’re making music with musicians of this caliber. I mean, Dave is part of two of the biggest bands of all time, so he’s a musical legend, and obviously, Pino, Rami and John are all exceptional. As a songwriter, it’s an honor to work with musicians of this level.”
Scott Garfield / Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures / Apple Original Films
Brad Pitt in ‘F1’
Kosinski was floored by how quickly the trio pulled it together. “Ed asked me to send him some phrases or bits of dialogue that represented the film to give him something to work with and literally two days later, he sent back the demo of that song,” the director recalls. The finished track “ended up being the perfect coda to this whole journey that Sonny has been on. The level of talent to pull that off is unbelievable. They knocked it out of the park.”
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“I love movies, so being involved in this has been wonderful,” says Sheeran. And as a big racing fan, “Drive” has paid a surprising dividend. “It’s a podium song now, so that’s pretty cool.”
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