‘F1 Movie’: On the Formula 1 tracks with Brad Pitt

Film: F1: The Movie
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Year: 2025
Duration: 155 minutes

In 2021, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Joseph Kosinski, and screenwriter Ehren Kruger—who had already teamed up for Top Gun: Maverick—announced they were working on a car racing film starring Brad Pitt. Immediately, studios and streaming platforms entered a bidding war for the rights, which Apple ultimately won.

Like many others, I initially expected a true story about the world of car racing, something akin to Rush (2013) or Ford v Ferrari (2019). But F1: The Movie, now released four years later, is not that kind of film. While centered around a fictional Formula 1 team and its drivers, the movie includes almost everything you’d find in the real F1 world—real circuits, cars, drivers, and advertised brands—making it feel as authentic as possible. With a colossal budget of nearly $300 million (reportedly $30 million of which went to Brad Pitt), the film lacks an original story but still delivers a thrilling experience that lives up to the full promise of mainstream entertainment.

^{F1: The Movie | Source: TME Films}

The story kicks off when Ruben (Javier Bardem), head of the fictional F1 team APX GP, turns to his former rival and friend Sonny (Brad Pitt), a retired driver, in desperation over the team's constant failures. Initially clashing with the team’s young star Joshua (Damson Idris), Sonny eventually transforms their rivalry into mentorship and, predictably, into team spirit.

The film’s simple story—built around a “let’s give the youth a chance” message—its focus on experience over narrative, and its technical achievements all echo the crew’s previous work on Top Gun: Maverick. Just as Maverick leaned on Tom Cruise’s star power and nostalgia, F1: The Movie capitalizes on Brad Pitt’s presence and the massive global audience of Formula 1.

The movie is so intertwined with the F1 world that one of its producers is current F1 superstar Lewis Hamilton. (If the film follows Top Gun: Maverick’s awards season success and earns an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, Hamilton could become the first F1 driver ever nominated for an Oscar.) The film also features real-life figures such as Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso, Benoît Tréluyer, and Formula One Group CEO Stefano Domenicali. The racing scenes were filmed on real circuits, using real race cars, just before actual races—an authenticity you can feel throughout.

^{F1: The Movie | Source: TME Films}

The film captures the thrill of the track, the tension of near-death crashes, and the intensity of competition so vividly that, even as someone with no connection to motorsports, I felt a sense of illusion similar to what Challengers achieved with tennis last year. I didn’t understand most of the rules—but I felt like I did. Just as the film intended (and sometimes demanded), I held my breath at tight corners and close contacts, sinking into my seat. But unlike Challengers, which did this for a sport, F1: The Movie does it for a brand.

As many critics have noted, what we’re watching is undeniably an incredibly expensive F1 commercial funded by Apple. And it's not just about F1. Nearly every scene features some kind of branding or product placement: alongside the advertising seen on real-life racetracks and the branding on various teams’ uniforms and cars, the fictional APX GP team alone showcases logos from 12 brands throughout the film—Expensify, MSC Cruises, Heineken 0.0, IWC Schaffhausen, Mercedes-Benz, Geico, SharkNinja, Marriott Bonvoy, EA Sports, KFC, T-Mobile, and Tommy Hilfiger. When Damson Idris attended the Met Gala in his racing suit from the film and Expensify later reported a 300% increase in subscriptions, it became clear the film’s advertising impact began long before it ever hit theaters.

^{F1: The Movie | Source: TME Films}

We’re bombarded with ads at every hour of the day, in every setting and every action—but perhaps never quite as densely packed into a single film. Despite this overload, I must admit that the film’s viewing pleasure, its visual and auditory experience, isn’t disrupted—certainly not to the uncomfortable degree seen in recent Disney+ originals from Turkey. This is a film that reflects the full machinery of a racing industry that has practically created its own economy. Given the film is literally titled F1: The Movie—complete with an ® symbol on its posters—no one should be surprised by the saturation of branding.

Ultimately, F1: The Movie doesn’t offer anything groundbreaking in terms of story. But it tells what it wants to tell, pits a superstar against a rising talent in a compelling dynamic, dazzles with its production quality and especially sound design, and is backed by an entertaining original soundtrack. In short, it delivers exactly what I expected.

Where to watch it?
F1: The Movie is now in halls—including IMAX, ScreenX, and 4DX, which I strongly recommend for this film.