F1 the Movie
Formula One is enjoying something of a renaissance, with Netflix’s Drive to Survive selling the sport to a new generation.
Enter F1 the Movie – part blockbuster, part ultra-expensive marketing exercise, with Brad Pitt behind the wheel and Top Gun: Maverick’s Joseph Kosinski behind the camera.
Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a once-promising driver whose career hit the skids after a bad crash three decades ago and who now makes his way to random races as a driver for hire. One-time racetrack rival and chum Ruben (Javier Bardem), whose APXGP team is struggling so badly it may cost him his ownership, then offers him a seat back in the big time.
The plan? For the veteran wildcard to inspire the team and its arrogant rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) to an unlikely, team-saving Grand Prix victory. Needless to say, Joshua is to be sharing the garage with a “granddad” he views as yesterday’s man.
More receptive to Hayes’s charms is technical director Kate (Kerry Condon), whose aerodynamics know-how combines with his maverick tactics to spark a predictably Hollywood march up the grid.
Kosinski shoots the racing with the flair for high-octane machine-led stunts he showed on Top Gun – utilising his access to real-life cars and tracks to great effect. The racing scenes are often thrilling in a way that real-life F1 isn’t.
That’s probably because while the visuals may aim to make you feel like you’re in the cockpit, the plot plays fast and loose with the rules and reality of F1. It’s less Rush and more Bad News Bears in terms of trying to be a traditional underdog story in a way that stretches credulity in a sport as regulated and technical as F1.
However, F1 the Movie motors along enjoyably, with a buffed-up Pitt turning on his 90s charisma and convincing as the charming veteran despite his 61 years, and Condon getting a juicier, more nuanced role than your average love interest.
Idris has to cede screen time to his older co-star, but still manages to give his cocky hotshot some emotional depth – especially when he is forced to confront the dangers of driving on the edge.
The only real bum note among the cast is the usually terrific Tobias Menzies, whose oily team executive, Banning, could have done with a little more ambiguity rather than pit wall chewing.
The corporate sheen occasionally grates as it’s very much a corporate-approved exercise in selling F1, but it rattles through its run-time entertainingly enough. In a sport often accused of processional dullness, that’s no small victory.
Mark Worgan
F1 the Movie is released nationwide on 25th June 2025.
Watch the trailer for F1 the Movie here:
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