In the early 90s, Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) was the next big thing on the Formula One circuit. He and his teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) tore up the track and were destined for greatness. But when a devastating event put an end to Sonny’s career, his life took a downturn, but he never lost his love for racing.
Now 30 years later, Sonny is a nomadic ronin of the sport. A racer for hire who lives out of his van, wins big then moves on. He’s going nowhere fast, and that’s just how he likes it, until a ghost from the past comes knocking and Ruben seeks Sonny out with an offer. While the years have been hard for Sonny, Ruben is now the very wealthy owner of the Apex Grand Prix racing team (APXGP), but there’s a few problems. They’ve never placed top 10 in any race, their rookie driver Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) is more interested in his public profile than winning, their pit crew is clumsy, their technical director Kate (Kerry Condon) is inexperienced and most of all, the car is a “shitbox”.
If Ruben can’t turn things around this season he’ll lose ownership of his own team, Sonny doesn’t need APXGP, they need Sonny! So returns an old dog who still has some tricks up his sleeve. Travelling around the world, he’ll help raise this team from bottom of the barrel to a possible contender for greatness. Although, he has to finish a race first before he can even think about the possibility of reaching the podium!
Joseph Kosinski, a man who many are calling the next James Cameron, does it again with his latest film. He wowed audiences with his vision of cyberspace in Tron: Legacy (2010), ACTUAL space with Oblivion (2013) and took to the skies with Top Gun: Maverick (2022). Now, Kosinski directs a film which breaks every speed limit in style. Putting us in the seat of a Formula One racing car, the same way he did the seat of a fighter jet!
Until a while ago, I didn’t really know too much about the sport of Formula One racing. However recently the sport has been seeing a surge of popularity. Behind the scenes shows like Netflix’s ‘Formula 1: Race to Survive‘ have opened things up to a wider audience, showing that speed is only half the excitement amongst the theatrics of internal conflicts, signings and brand deals. ‘F1‘ as a film delves into this world in a way audiences can appreciate whether they be newcomers or superfans.
This sense of authenticity has a lot to do with the film’s producer, the 7-time driver’s Champion award winner (joint record holder) Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton was involved closely with the filming of the movie and the spectacular driving sequences. Not only does he feature heavily as a challenge to our protagonists in the story but often is racing neck and neck trading paint with the stars as a stunt driver.
Because just like Tom Cruise was often in real fighter jets for filming Top Gun: Maverick, this time Brad Pitt and Damson Idris are in the “Danger Zone”! Returning Oscar award-winning cinematographer Claudio Miranda shoots the film in such a way as to leave no doubt that the two stars are doing a lot of the driving themselves. Of course, this increases the tension as Sonny and Joshua battle it out on the tarmac at over 350km/h.
The story is at its base is a pretty simple underdog tale about seeking success, but it works fine thanks to the effective pacing of the narrative and F1 Movie’s likeable characters. The film flows between white knuckle racing sequences and technical garage politics over what type of wheels the crew should be using. Again, this is a sport with a lot more to it than simply driving fast around a circuit, and screenwriter Ehren Kruger gives us a taste of all the drama the Formula One world has to offer.
With few exceptions, the cast are all interesting in their roles from the burned-out has-been getting the deal of his lifetime, to a young woman on the pit crew struggling to do her part to win. From the multi-millionaire team owner who may have bitten off more than he can chew, to a mother whose driver son may very well die doing the thing he loves. Besides a predictable antagonist sprouting up, each character feels less like a plot device and more a true and honest real person in this racing world.
F1 The Movie is a solid and breathtaking look at Formula One racing, the teamwork and the drive needed to be the best. Perhaps it’s as much of a commercial recruiting tool for watching the Grand Prix as Top Gun: Maverick was for joining the US Navy, but if that’s the case, then Joseph Kosinski must be the most talented hype man in Hollywood today. This was my most exhilarating film experience of 2025 thus far, and it has piqued my interest in the motorsport. I even bought myself a Formula One LEGO car!