F1 Review

Formula One is the biggest and most popular motorsport in the world, and a film about the modern iteration has many cinematic big hitters working on it.

Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) is a skilled racing driver and a drifter. After winning the 24 Hours of Daytona race, Sonny gets an offer from his old teammate, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), to join APXGP, the worst team in Formula One.  The deal is that Sonny would bring experience and expertise to improve the team and mentor the hotshot rookie driver, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). Unfortunately, Sonny and Joshua quickly butt heads. AXAGP only has half a season to improve or face being folded.

F1 was a joint production between Apple Studios, Brad Pitt’s production company, and Jerry Bruckheimer Films. Joseph Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer reteamed after the success of Top Gun: Maverick, and it had a colossal team of talent. As well as Pitt, Idris, and Bardem, the cast included Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin), Tobias Menzies (Game of Thrones), Kim Bodnia (Killing Eve), and Callie Cooke (Henpocalypse! and Doctor Who’s “Dot and Bubble”). The cast even featured Shea Whigham in a small role at the beginning of the film.

F1 was a film that had a lot of money spent on it. The budget is estimated to be $200 million, shot in many locations like Silverstone, Monza, Las Vegas, and Abu Dhabi, and it had access to the Formula One brand. The title even featured the registered trademark symbol in its title.

The film was made to be as authentic as possible. It shows everything that goes into running a Formula One team. There’s designing, engineering, and testing, coming up with a strategy and plan before the race, and everyone working together to ensure the racers can get points. It wasn’t just about racers having the best cars or skills, or choosing the right time to have a pitstop. This was when F1 was at its most interesting, as it showcased all the teamwork required. It made the race scenes compelling because there was a lot of communication between everyone. Fans of Formula One will enjoy the races and the attention to detail.

As a director, Kosinski has evolved from making visual effects-heavy sci-fi films like Tron: Legacy and Oblivion to more grounded films that used more practical effects, such as Only the Brave and Top Gun: Maverick. He has become a master at making dad films, films that appeal to older male audiences. Kosinski brought his Top Gun experience to the race sequences.

F1 felt a lot like 2023’s Gran Turismo. Both were movies about motor sports and made to be product promotions. Gran Turismo and F1 had some similar story ideas and beats, like racing teams coming up with unconventional ideas to drive up interest and become competitive. There were both underdog stories where the teams became hated by their rivals. In F1, it was because of Sonny’s aggressive driving style.

By being an underdog sports story, it made F1 a predictable, clichéd experience. It was easy to see where the story and character arcs were going. This is a general issue with sports films, such as the Rocky series, which has used the same story template for 50 years. The final act of F1 felt more like a Pixar film.

Since F1 was a formulaic structure, the screenwriters built the film up with multiple subplots. If AXAGP didn’t improve it, then the investors would sell up, everyone would be out of a job, and Ruben would be humiliated. Kate (Kerry Condon) was a female engineer in a male-dominated arena, and she was determined to prove her doubters wrong. Sonny and Kate had a spark leading to a possible romance. Whilst Joshua needs to improve his performance on the race track and profile on social media, if he wants to have a chance to race for another team. There was a hinted connection between Joshua and a member of the pit crew, Jodie (Cooke), but that didn’t lead anywhere. This mix of sports, personal, and business drama made F1 feel like the cinematic equivalent of the British football soap opera Dream Team. Or to compare it to an American film, F1 was a bit like Any Given Sunday.

As a technical feat, F1 was a marvel that spared no expense. It will appeal to fans of motorsports. However, great technical achievements can only carry a film so far when the story and characters were formulaic.