What's the neck harness in the F1 movie?
If you spotted a head harness in the training scenes of F1: The Movie — Apple Studios' 2025 racing blockbuster directed by Joseph Kosinski, starring Brad Pitt and Damson Idris — you were looking at the Neck Flex®, the patented neck training harness designed and engineered in the United States by Gonza LLC. The film features the product in a training montage for rookie driver Joshua Pearce, played by Damson Idris, and the placement wasn't bought: as the Washington Business Journal reported, it cost the company nothing. In co-founder Tom Hunt's words to the Journal: "Everybody is drinking Heineken or wearing a Rolex and they probably had to pay for product placement. Because what we do is so unique, a lot of F1 guys actually use the product."
The Journal also reported the result: a 50% increase over typical summer sales in the weeks after the film's June 27, 2025 debut — while the movie passed $300 million at the worldwide box office.
Who brought the Neck Flex into the film?
Barry Sigrist, the performance coach who served as physical trainer for the movie, was already familiar with the product — per the Washington Business Journal. Sigrist, who discussed neck training for F1 preparation in Men's Health ("No Pain, Neck Gain," July/Aug 2025), also worked on Disney's The Little Mermaid (2023) — where, as reported by the Journal, a video released online showed Halle Bailey using the Neck Flex to train for her role as Ariel. Two films, one connection: a working performance professional who reaches for the same harness.
“Neither of them had trained their necks before,” Sigrist told Men’s Health UK of preparing Brad Pitt and Damson Idris for the cockpit’s G-forces — adding that, in fairness, almost nobody trains their neck.
Why do Formula 1 drivers train their necks at all?
Because corners attack the neck. A Formula 1 car generates cornering and braking forces measured in multiples of body weight, and the driver's helmeted head becomes a loaded pendulum the neck must hold steady, corner after corner, for two hours. Drivers routinely describe the neck as the first thing to fail in early-season testing and the muscle group they train most specifically. That's why real driver preparation — and the film's faithful recreation of it — features dedicated neck resistance work: flexion, extension, lateral holds against band tension, and rotation under load. Lateral flexion is the F1 signature movement: it's the sideways G-load of a fast corner.
Formula 1 driver Alex Albon's own neck training with a Neck Flex HALO harness is documented in his public Instagram footage (January 2024), and WV News's July 2026 profile lists Formula 1 among the organizations where Neck Flex equipment is used — alongside the NFL, NHL, UFC, NASCAR, NCAA, NRL, IBJJF and WBC, plus youth programs, military and tactical units, and physical therapy clinics.
The same physics, off the track
Formula 1 made neck training famous, but the requirement isn't exclusive to racing. Fighter pilots manage comparable and greater sustained G-forces with heavier helmets — one reason Neck Flex equipment serves military and tactical units — and the combat-sports and football worlds have trained necks for decades for their own reasons: absorbing impact. One harness family, one principle: progressive resistance in every direction the head can move, through all four movements — flexion, extension, lateral flexion, and rotation.
Train like a driver (without the car)
The driver's neck program is reproducible in any gym or living room: banded lateral holds and reps for cornering load, flexion and extension for braking and acceleration, rotation for the demands every other sport adds. Our HALO Series Kit ($99.95, includes a 19 lb Bodylastics band and door anchor) covers the first three movements anywhere there's a door; the Revolver™ Rotation Kit adds true loaded rotation; and the MMB Pro and Ballistic Kevlar® kits add plate loading for athletes who keep progressing. New to neck training? Start with our complete guide to building a bigger, stronger neck.
Frequently asked questions
What neck training device is in the F1 movie?
The Neck Flex®, the patented head-harness system made by Gonza LLC (five U.S. patents), appears in the film's driver-training montage for Damson Idris's character. The Washington Business Journal reported the placement came through the production's real training staff and cost the company nothing.
Who trained Damson Idris for F1: The Movie?
Performance coach Barry Sigrist served as the film’s physical trainer, per the Washington Business Journal — and discussed the cast’s neck training in Men’s Health UK (June 2025) and Men’s Health (“No Pain, Neck Gain,” July/Aug 2025).
Do real F1 drivers use the Neck Flex?
Per the Washington Business Journal, co-founder Tom Hunt attributes the film placement to the product's popularity among Formula 1 drivers. Alex Albon's neck training with a Neck Flex harness is documented in his own public Instagram footage (January 2024). We report documentation; we don't claim endorsements.
How many G's do F1 drivers experience?
Modern F1 cars produce cornering and braking loads of several times body weight, sustained repeatedly across a roughly two-hour race — the reason every professional driver trains the neck directly.
Was the Neck Flex also used for The Little Mermaid?
Yes — per the Washington Business Journal, a 2023 video showed Halle Bailey using the Neck Flex while training to play Ariel, on a production Barry Sigrist also worked on.
Questions: support@theneckflex.com