echo F1 The Movie has been marketed for over a year now as a love letter to the motorsport world; a sleek, ambitious collaboration between Formula 1, Apple Studios, and director Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick). With Brad Pitt starring as a retired driver returning to the grid, and real F1 teams and tracks involved in the film, the hype was real. It promised authenticity, adrenaline, and a cinematic breakthrough for motorsport storytelling.
While the film has its good points, there’s no denying those of us who regularly watch the sport were somewhat.. baffled. What we got was narrative clichés, technical absurdities, and questionable portrayals of women in male-dominated sports.
A cinematic masterpiece in terms of Hollywood entertainment, but to sports fans? It serves as glorified fan fiction scribbled in the margins of a race program, filmed in IMAX, and handed in like it was Shakespeare.
A Fictional Team in a Real World — And None of It Makes Sense
Let’s start with the premise. Brad Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a retired F1 driver who returns to the grid to mentor his young teammate, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) at the fictional team APXGP. So far, not terrible. But Hayes’ purposeful crashes were the start of the film’s lack of realism.
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Hayes faced no issue in obtaining his super licence and no PR or FIA backlash for the crashes and car damage. Additionally, Sonny Hayes was shown to have experienced a career-ending accident in the 90s, but it simply didn’t make sense why he wasn’t sent for a medical check-up prior to his re-entry to the grid. How was it possible that the team missed such crucial information on their driver’s health? Sonny experienced brain and lung contusions and a severe leg fracture, almost leading to an amputation. After a horrific accident, could the FIA simply just let a driver return?
To any fan of Formula 1, this was laughable. Sure, in real life, you can’t even helmet designs without clearance, but in fiction, a 60-year-old with a tragic backstory gets a full-time seat driving for the most competitive motorsport in the world.
The physics of the movie was questionable. Cars were flying through corners in Monaco, one of the narrowest street circuits on the calendar, making it highly unlikely. It felt as though the slow motion shots were to bombard us with suspense in an attempt to hide the unrealism of the Monaco track.
Crashes, Carnage, and the Safety Car Circus
One of the film’s most unintentionally comedic elements is how often Sonny Hayes manages to crash — and not in small, rookie-error ways, but in full-on, race-stopping disasters that trigger safety cars like confetti at a podium celebration. It’s as if the screenwriters read the rulebook, found out what a “safety car” is, and said, “Let’s use that. A lot.”
Every time Sonny takes to the track, you brace yourself — not for a daring move or a calculated risk, but for the inevitable moment when he’ll miss a braking point, clip a rear wing, or lock up and send carbon fiber flying across the screen. It happens so often that it starts to feel like a running gag, except the movie plays it completely straight.
And somehow, despite causing multiple pileups, nearly taking out half the grid, and racking up enough damages to bankrupt Haas twice over, Sonny is never penalized. No black flags. No grid drops. No harsh words from race control. Instead, he’s met with warm applause and heartfelt speeches about second chances. Moreover, the crash at Monza. JP’s car flew out of a corner and into barriers, catching fire. He walks out with burns and broken bones but is seemingly fine. This was a nod to Romain Grosejan’s crash in Bahrain in 2020, which can be seen as quite disrespectful in certain aspects. Imagine the moment where you thought it was the last time you will ever see your loved ones being used in a movie to overdramatise a crash.
What’s even more absurd is how these frequent safety car deployments are edited into the race montages like they’re part of the drama. And because the movie bends reality to fit Sonny’s hero arc, no one calls him out. Not the media. Not the drivers whose races he ruins. Not even his own team.
Character Development? Try Character Flatlines
Sonny Hayes is somehow both stoic and smug. He’s got the tortured past, the mysterious edge, the aviator sunglasses — and absolutely no emotional arc. He enters the sport with a chip on his shoulder, gives a few “you gotta want it” speeches, and by the end, we’re apparently meant to believe he’s healed decades of regret and inspired the whole paddock with his grit.
Damson Idris, as the young prodigy, is criminally underused. His character exists solely to serve as the foil to Sonny’s redemption — a wasted opportunity, especially considering Idris’s charisma and potential to portray JP.
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Another weak plot point was the sneaky investor, trying to manipulate Sonny Hayes into betraying his friend and team. It was a weak plot with no suspenseful build up. It was the most predictable sub plot possible with no build up, anticipation or suspense. In fact at the end of the movie, we never truly know what becomes of that investor.
A Setback in the Fast Lane: The Romance Nobody Asked For
In what may be the most regressive choice in an already shallow script, F1 decides to pair Sonny Hayes with the team’s lead technical engineer — a brilliant, competent woman (played with dignity by Kerry Condon, whose performance deserved a far better arc).
At first, she’s introduced as smart, focused, and respected in the paddock — a woman working in an intensely male-dominated field. It’s a breath of fresh air.
And then… they give her a romance arc. With Sonny.
Suddenly, she’s no longer the voice of engineering expertise — she’s his emotional support system, the woman who believes in him when no one else will, the one who looks at him misty-eyed in the pit lane while he tells her she “understands the car like no one else.”
It’s 2025. Women in motorsport are still fighting for equal footing — in garages, in commentary booths, in the FIA. Instead of showing a technical director holding her own in race strategy meetings or making critical calls under pressure, F1 decides her most important function is to humanize a male lead 25 years older than her.
The movie had a chance to break the mold. Instead, it doubled down on tired tropes — the woman behind the man, the beauty beside the beast, the love interest in a fireproof jumpsuit.
Bright Spot #1: Cinematography That Belongs on the Podium
Now, let’s not be too harsh; the movie has its plus points too!
The on-track cinematography is stunning. Kosinski and cinematographer Claudio Miranda capture the speed, the danger, and the grandeur of F1 like never before. Real footage, in-car cameras, drone work — it’s all expertly stitched together with an almost operatic intensity. The sound design is also immersive — you feel the roar of the engines, the screech of the tires, and the weight of every gear shift. This sound system and cinematography in IMAX is simply *chef’s kiss*!
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Bright Spot #2: A Love Letter
Despite its flaws, you can’t deny that the film is made by people who love the sport. The pit lane cameos, the behind-the-scenes shots, the way the camera lingers on mechanics working overnight — these moments feel authentic. There’s reverence in the way F1 is presented, even if the storytelling doesn’t do it justice. It’s clear that the cast and crew wanted to honor the spirit of Formula 1, and that love for the sport is what truly matters.
The Final Lap: A Flashy Misfire With Missed Opportunities
F1 is frustrating because it could have been so much more.It had all the ingredients: real access, great actors, a director with blockbuster experience, and a sport that’s never been hotter globally. For casual fans or those who just want to see fast cars and beautiful slow-motion, it delivers some popcorn entertainment. That said, for long-time fans and those hoping for something deeper, the film may feel like a missed opportunity. It leans into familiar Hollywood tropes rather than embracing the rich, real-life drama F1 naturally offers.
Still, there’s plenty to enjoy if you go in with your expectations tuned for entertainment over realism. While it may not quite capture the heart of F1, it captures the hype, the glamour, and the thrill, attracting widespread interest in the sport, and at the end of the day, that’s what matters!
Written by: Alishbah
Edited by: Ashley
