Ron Howard - Ron Howard Consulted Hamilton For Race Movie

The director admits Hamilton became "basically a consultant" in the early stages of the project, about race ace Niki Lauda's famous track battles with driver James Hunt - and now Howard wants to give the sportsman a role in the film.

He tells Britain's The Sun, "Lewis is great. The most impressive thing about him is that he came from a humble background and climbed to the top of his game.

"I had a long chat with him while starting work on the film, he was basically a consultant. I don't know if he would go for it. There should be a role for him, if he wanted it."