For once, Deadpool will apply maximum effort to not break the fourth wall. Or the fifth wall, or any of the walls at Belgium’s famous Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps racetrack.
Formula One driver Esteban Ocon deployed a full Deadpool takeover livery for the Belgium Grand Prix, debuting his Marvel-themed paint scheme, helmet, fire suit and gloves at the historic circuit’s first practice session Friday.
Ocon, a lifetime Marvel superfan, appeared on-track only briefly, and if managed not to blink, you’d think the Merc With the Mouth had just gone whizzing by. (No, that’s not Wade Wilson himself wheeling the 31 car, alas.)
The cross-promotion comes, of course, by way of “Deadpool & Wolverine” star Ryan Reynolds, who was part of a $218 million investment in the Alpine (formerly Renault) F1 team this year.
But this is no empty, grin-and-bear-it sponsorship deal for the French driver. Ocon told the New York Times that as a young man pursuing a racing career, he and his father would endure long drives through the European countryside with a mounted iPad playing one thing: Marvel movies and TV shows.
“I know all of them,” Ocon told the Times, adding that even in era of the streaming firehose, “there’s not enough coming out for me.”
Though his Alpine team has struggled mightily through the first half of the F1 season, Ocon had a cracking practice session at Spa, posting the seventh-fastest time of the day in his superhero-themed race car.
The Belgium Grand Prix, the 14th round of F1’s 24-race series, will be held Sunday. Ocon currently ranks 18th among 21 drivers in the points standings, while Alpine ranks eighth among the series’ 10 teams.
