F1

Sports usually benefit from having a cinematic portrayal, as a movie’s dramatic presentation and narrative-focused mentality can accentuate and elevate their distinct properties and make it appealing to even non-sporting fans, and this method has resulted in several classic movies that have become synonymous with their selected activity. While most people are familiar with Field of Dreams, Bend It like Beckham, Million Dollar Baby, and Remember the Titans, there haven’t been that many about motor sporting, which is crazy considering it’s a pretty popular sport watched by many people across the globe and feels like one of the easiest sports to make cinematically thrilling. It seems that most studios picked up on this when they entered a bidding war for a movie based around the F1 racing competition starring Brad Pitt and led by the team who made Top Gun: Maverick, which provided a thrill ride most audience members hadn’t seen in theatres for years. Positioning itself as Top Gun Maverick but with cars, this 2025 motorsports film simple titled F1, had some pretty heft shoes to fill, but managed to suit them pretty nicely.

Former Formula 1 racing prodigy, Sonny Hayes (played by Brad Pitt) has become a nomadic racer-for-hire after suffering a severe crash that totalled his career and prevented him from ever living up to his potential. Things take a turn when an old teammate, Ruben (played by Javier Bardem) asks him to race for his F1 team, APXGP, as they’re currently on the chopping block unless they win one of the nine remaining Grand Prixes for the year and need an experienced driver like him to help coach the new blood. After begrudgingly accepting, Sonny gets to know the team, including its technical director, Kate McKenna (played by Kerry Condon) and British rookie driver, Joshua Pearce (played by Damson Idris) who is positioned as APXGP’s star racer yet lacks the maturity to secure any wins. While Hayes’ more aggressive style of driving sneakily gets APXGP the win, it causes him to butt heads with Pearce, who is fearful that Haye’s public comeback will overshadow his status and cause him to be dropped. With tensions in the pit stop that could result in either driver suffering fatal injuries on the tracks, the older and newer generations will have to co-exist in order for this extreme underdog team to come out on top.

F1 revs what should be standard ‘popcorn flick’ schmaltz into high gear with an expectedly high-octane, polished and endearingly pandering movie that provides exactly what you’d expect it to. With a strong critical and audience reception out of the gate and a pretty great box office that allowed it to still turn a profit even with a budget of $200 – 300 million, F1 has the potential to become a new sports movie classic. Though the story is predictable, the characters are very by-the-numbers, and the movie lacks the wow factor that its high-flying idol managed to achieve, it still manages a good time with the use of a strong cast, pristine visual quality, sustainable delivery, and thrilling racing sequences.

Considering how many studios and streaming platforms were vying for this film including Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Sony, Universal and Disney, they clearly saw the cinematic potential but also commercial viability of such an idea, as leading with the team of director Joseph Kosinski, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and writer Ehren Kruger promised an experience at least similar to the billion-dollar earning Top Gun: Maverick and they’d be crazy not to at least try again with said formula. Despite all three of these people not having the greatest filmography, their combined efforts really succeeded with Maverick, and it seems they managed a second wind with this feature, adopting a very similar presentation and vibe that has the risk of feeling formulaic and pandering, but somehow doesn’t feel cynical. The story (constructed by Kosinski and Kruger) is very predictable, following the standard ‘’underdog fighting up the ranks to victory’’ storyline with expected outcomes, struggles and even character dynamics, and with a running time of 156 mins, the chances of growing bored are quite high, but the film overall feels well executed and knows what to give people in order to keep their attention and investment.

While there are a few sections in the second act that drag and it’s hard to care about the drama and stakes of the situation when the attitude feels extremely breezy and commercial, this uproarious, overly causal energy does allow audiences to let loose and go along with its wildness as, while silly in parts, it never feels demeaning or too low-hanging. The cast provide a lot of character and enough authenticity to salvage the drama, the pacing for the most part is quite good, the script doesn’t really go into detail about the specifics of Formula 1 racing, but doesn’t push away those who are complete newcomers, and while the racing is never as exhilarating as the plane sequences in Top Gun Maverick, they are well filmed and provide enough in-theatre hype and narrative fulfillment to match the expected quota. It isn’t a movie that’ll exceed expectations, and it might result in a few groans for featuring stuff like a cliched romantic subplot, a lame forced conflict between both racers, and a last-minute bad guy who is entirely unneeded and feels too cheesy even for this movie, but it does give what the trailers promised and none of its ingredients feel particularly sour or mean-spirited.

Having Brad Pitt was a strong get for the film as not only did his involvement continue the echoes with Top Gun as he and Tom Cruise do have similar pedigrees, but he is still a very profitable Hollywood star who you could easily see in this kind of hyperactive sports film, but it thankfully doesn’t just rely on his charisma and looks to woe audiences as the cast in general is quite good. Featuring equally high-profile and award-nominated talent like Kerry Condon and Javier Bardem, most of the characters feel pretty archetype and the writing doesn’t really do a good job elevating them above those tropes, but the charisma of every performer (whether major or minor) goes a long way to helping carry this movie to the finish line.

Pitt knows the assignment and provides enough rugged charm and passion behind the wheel to excuse the somewhat basic handling of his role, Damson Idris does feel a little eclipsed by the film’s clear preference for Pitt and has a character who’s also a little undercooked despite having a solid outline, but still comes across as pretty talented, Kerry Condon is mostly wasted as the crew’s technical director whose only movie purpose is to be in love with Pitt (which is something even those within the motor sporting industry took issue with) but brings enough energy and genuineness to make it less irritating, Javier Bardem continues to be such an engrossing performer that he makes a character that could’ve been played flat, feel very endearing, and even supporting roles from people like Kim Bodnia, Sarah Niles, Abdul Salis, Callie Cooke and Samson Kayo have so much personality thanks to who they picked to portray them, that it creates a nice community within this team and makes them easier to root for. As previously stated, Tobias Menzies as the forced in villain is pretty lame and isn’t allowed any level of charisma to at least make him enjoyably hateable, but he is thankfully reserved for the final act, so his inclusion is kept very brief.

The races need to be done right for this movie to fulfill its prime objective, and it feels like it made all the right choices when it comes to portraying them. While Warner Brothers helped to distribute the movie, F1 very much feels like a movie distributed and produced by Apple, as the obsession with glossy, chromatic technology and the movie’s very smooth and polished visual design feels very on-brand, but their involvement and clearly helpful funding (the film’s $200 – 300 million budget seems more plausible with them in the background) helps it look clean and high definition, and makes these racing moments quite effective. The cinematography by Claudio Miranda (also from Top Gun Maverick) provides some great up-close shots of the action that put the audience right in the mayhem of a sport that usually requires some distance, the editing by Stephen Mirrione is quick enough to continue building the suspense, but also allows for longer takes so that the audience can hold their breath when a car is trying to pass, the film clearly used a lot of effects during these sequences, but the practical camera work and the instances where the actors are really driving do bring a grittiness to these moments, and the musical score by Hans Zimmer knows how to heighten the tension and entice the audience with his techno-themed piece without overshadowing what’s occurring on the screen.

If F1 is the rookie to Top Gun Maverick’s seasoned athlete, then it’s hard to claim that the racer was able to top the pilot, but the fact that it comes even slightly close is a feat worth appreciating. It knew what to mimic to result in a popular crowd-pleaser, and even with its own personal issues like undeveloped characters, some dumb narrative cliches, and lacking that specific spectacle that could’ve propelled it to great heights, the charismatic actors, glossy visuals, competent direction, and some pretty great driving scenes make it a lap that will keep you invested all the way to the final stretch.