By Hanna Rantala

LONDON, June 23 (Reuters) - Brad Pitt is itching to return to the racing tracks after making "F1", a movie that takes audiences into the action of real Formula One races and mixes in romance and humour.

Directed and co-written by "Top Gun: Maverick" filmmaker Joseph Kosinski, "F1" was partly filmed during Formula One Grand Prix weekends, with scenes shot on the circuits during breaks and real drivers also appearing on screen.

Pitt plays an unruly racer-for-hire, who returns to Formula One to help his friend's struggling team and mentor its rookie driver, played by Damson Idris.

Pitt and Idris did their own driving in the movie, combining top speeds with acting. The aim for authenticity made the project physically testing for the two.

"It's real. You got to put in the neck exercises. And we're not even pulling the G's that the real guys are doing," Pitt said at the film's European premiere in London on Monday.

"I was in the gym a lot. It was cold plunges afterwards just for recovery," Pitt, 61, said.

"It's insane," said Idris in an interview. "You're driving up to 180 miles per hour sometimes. I have to say the lines at this specific place and I have to emote in a way that's going to translate through the eyes at those speeds. When you watch the film, you feel you're driving as a viewer, and that was our intention."

Getting the balance right for viewers with varying levels of familiarity with the sport was also key, said Kosinski.

"If you're a diehard Formula One fan, you're going to find some Easter eggs, you're going to recognise some historical stuff that I think will be interesting. But we also designed the movie so that if you know nothing about Formula One, if you have no interest in motor sports whatsoever, this is just a great story about second chances, teamwork and friendship," he said.

Monday's premiere came just days after Pitt got to drive a Formula One car for real after testing a McLaren at Austin's Circuit of the Americas. The cars used in the film were Formula Two cars, modified to look like real grand prix racers.

"Ask me how fast I went. Three mph short of 200 mph," Pitt said of the experience. "I want to go back. I want to hit 200."

"F1" begins its global cinematic rollout on June 25.

(Reporting by Hanna Rantala; Editing by Leslie Adler)

((Hanna.Rantala@thomsonreuters.com;))