Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise once drove a Red Bull F1 test car when he collaborated with the team back in 2011. The collaboration took place at Willow Springs Circuit, California.

At the time, Cruise was working on his new film, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Between production breaks, he collaborated with Red Bull, known for their presence in F1 and extreme sports. The Austrian company decided to create a promotional video to enhance both Cruise’s new film and their platform.

In the video, Tom Cruise visited the team’s garage at Willow Springs. There, former F1 driver David Coulthard gave Cruise lessons and advice on operating an F1 car.

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The actor then took to the track, steadily improving his lap times and shaving off an impressive 11 seconds with each subsequent lap.

During his run, Cruise even lost control of the car and went off the track. However, he remained calm, returning to the track and pitting the car.

Afterward, Cruise and Coulthard had a conversation, with the latter praising the former for pushing the limits and testing out various combinations in each lap and corner.

Later, Tom Cruise boarded a Red Bull helicopter to perform loops, pumping more adrenaline into his system. The result was one of the most popular YouTube videos the Austrian company has ever produced, garnering over 15,000,000 views.

David Coulthard praises Tom Cruise’s humble persona during Red Bull’s shoot 12 years ago

David Coulthard recently talked about how Tom Cruise’s crew warned Red Bull mechanics about how to approach the Hollywood superstar. He praised Cruise’s humbleness when he arrived in the garage for his test run.

As per Formule1, Coulthard claimed that Cruise’s team told Red Bull mechanics that they should not approach the actor directly and let him come to them. However, the former F1 driver said Cruise was friendly with everyone and even brought his son for a tour of the garage. He shared:

“His management told us beforehand something like: ‘don’t approach him yourself, he will come to you’, things like that. But when Tom arrived he was friendliness itself, shook hands with all the mechanics and brought his son with him.”

Since then, Tom Cruise has been on the F1 paddock several times. He was most recently seen with multiple teams at the 2024 F1 Miami GP. He even took part in a pitstop practice session at Mercedes by removing one tire from the car.