F1: The Movie has once again brought Formula 1 racing to the silver screens. As an F1 fan (Papaya On Top!), I was excited to see my favorite sport on the big screen, so I made sure to attend the film in IMAX, which I highly recommend. While the movie may be a little unbelievable at times, it is still a great film and well worth watching!
The movie follows Sunny Hayes, played by Brad Pitt, a once-promising F1 driver who left the sport after a horrific crash in the 1990s. The film opens in the present day, where Hayes, now a gambling addict-turned-racer-for-hire, wins the 24 Hours of Daytona (a team endurance race). While Hayes is traveling to his next racing gig, his old friend and former F1 teammate, Ruben Cervantes, played by Javier Bardem, finds Hayes and begs him to join Cervantes’s failing F1 team, APXGP.
Cervantes faces a looming deadline; his team must win a race before the end of the F1 season, or the team’s board will force him to sell the team. This will be a challenge, as the team has never won a race before, let alone finished in the top ten during its entire existence. Sunny Hayes is the team’s Hail Mary, if he will take the job.
Considering the title of the movie is F1, it comes as little surprise that Sunny does indeed accept the gig. Once he arrives at the team’s garage, he meets his new teammate, rookie Joshua Pearce, played by Damson Idris, who fears that the impending sale of the team will end his career. He is concerned that Hayes could overshadow him and wreck any opportunity to find another team that will take him on as a driver.
The plot of the movie isn’t particularly innovative: the old timer returns for one last chance, causing friction with the young hotshot who thinks it’s his time. Still, the movie manages to avoid becoming just another cliché action film through the excellent performances of the actors.
The real star of the film is the beautiful cinematography and race scenes. F1: The Movie stands out from other famed racing films such as Grand Prix and Days of Thunder in this regard. Onboard cameras made me feel like I was driving the cars myself, and helped me experience every second of the heart-stopping action firsthand, and panoramic drone shots allowed me to appreciate the track in its entirety. I could tell that I wasn’t the only audience member to feel drawn into the action; people sitting near me were literally sitting on the edges of their seats.
Making Of F1: The Movie (2025) – Best Of Behind The Scenes With Brad Pitt | Apple Original Films
At times, the film struggled to portray racing accurately. Hayes is an absolute demon on the track and not in the usual sense of the saying. It takes merely two races for him to terrorize the rest of the drivers on the grid via highly illegal race moves that would surely earn a driver a race ban in real life. While some of the racing conduct was somewhat unbelievable, the film did a good job of portraying F1 as a team sport and providing audiences with valuable insight into the roles of the pit crew and tire strategies.
One fun aspect of the movie was seeing the real-life drivers, team principals and drivers ’ pets’ cameos. I was greatly amused by Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff’s brief cameo, especially in light of recent contract negotiations between driver Max Verstappen and the team. I was also delighted to see Roscoe, the dog of Lewis Hamilton, make a brief appearance in one scene.
Driver Carlos Sainz makes an appearance. (Source: Deadline)
F1 is a fun and visually stunning movie. It provides newcomers with an introduction to the sport, and fans a way to see their favorite sport portrayed on screen (albeit in a dramatized manner). If you’re looking for a summer blockbuster to watch with friends and family this summer, look no further, F1 is the movie for you.
