F1: The Movie - Review

Spoiler warning!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yh9BPUBbbQ

Story/Summary

The F1 Movie - Directed and produced by Joseph Kosinski, with Lewis Hamilton, Chad Oman, Jerry Bruckheimer, Brad Pitt, Jeremy Kleiner and Dede Gardener all producing along side him.

The F1 movie Follows Sonny Hayes (played by Brad Pitt) re-joining formula 1 after retiring from the sport with the team at the bottom of the grid - APX GP - up to the top step.

Although Sonny Hayes had retired from Formula one he was racing in other championships, with great succession, in the beginning of the movie it is shown Sonny Hayes bringing his team to victory in the 24 hours of Daytona. After this Race he is approached by team owner of APX GP and former F1 team mate of Sonny Hayes - Ruben Cervantes (played by Javier Bardem) offering him a the empty seat at APX GP that desperately needs filling, alongside APX GP rookie driver Joshua Pearce (played by Damson Idris).

When Sonny decides to takes the seat at APX GP, the teams goal over the last nine races of the season is to no longer be at the back of grid. Sonny, tries to help the team with this goal as much as possible, as well as trying to redeem himself from his previous years in formula one. Sonny constantly sending strategies across the team radio ends up causing his team mate Joshua in a deadly crash that he luckily survives but had to miss multiple races, so APX GP had a reserve driver in his place. Sonny Later on, also ends up in a very dangerous crash that put him in the hospital as well, which results in him being kicked from the team before the final race of the season, due to Ruben seeing his medical records from his previous career ending crash in f1 meaning he should not have been racing again

Before the Abu Dhabi GP, Sonny talks Ruben into letting drive for the final race, which with Sonny starting at the back of the grid, Joshua and Sonny use great teamwork to get up to third and fourth. IN attempts to overtake The leader of the race, Lewis Hamilton, Both Sonny and Joshua attack Lewis but only for Joshua to overtake. As Joshua goes to overtake Lewis, they crash which causes Joshua to DNF and Sonny becomes leader of the race, and winning it.

Review

Disclaimer: I am a big F1 fan so i paying attention to see what was accurate little mistakes etc .

Positives First, The cinematography on this was incredible, the angles, the way they showed the speed of the sport was all amazing, it was so satisfying to watch and the whole movie had me on the edge of my seat and stressing out like an actual race. I loved the music for the movie two, especially with two if my favourite artists featuring on the sound track - Raye and Tate McRae. Considering this movie is quite long there wasn't a point i wasn't bored or it didn't lose my attention.

They also made all of the Characters extremely likeable, instead of being unbearable (most of the time). I'm so glad they had Lewis as a producer on the movie as well otherwise it could have gone down hill fast. I loved the fact that instead of them going from the back of the grid to winning the WCC and WDC, the end goal/celebration was a race win not a championship it made it feel more authentic and realistic. Also although I wasn’t excited for the fact the love interest was one of the 2(?) women on the team I loved the relationship that did develop between sonny and Kate, I just wish  it wasn’t someone on the team.

Now for the negatives, now I know it's all for the spectacle of the movie but the amount of crashes that bad was insane, and also the fact they didn't really show sonny getting any penalties for his insane driving. Again I know they have to do this for the movie but the clear visors for a daylight race killed me lmao. Another thing I noticed that bugged me was during the first GP (Silverstone) They showed a clip of the actual f1 drivers from 2023, and then showed Lando Norris in his 2024 Silverstone helmet, and then showed Lando in this helmet again but it was his 2023 Silverstone helmet but that's just me paying ridiculous attention but it's not like it's a massive problem and People who aren't big fans of f1 that are paying attention won't notice it. Another thing was, what happened to the FIA approval to race in f1. The last thing I'm going to complain about is that qualifying is barley shown/mentioned in the movie at all, considering it is such a big part of the sport i found it strange they just left it out almost entirely.

Anyways none of the negative things ruined the film it's just little things I noticed. But overall the movie was a great representation of the sport and will open the sport up to plenty new fans and is definitely worth the watch whether you like f1 or not.

Rating - 4 out of 5

Release Date: Wednesday 25th of June 2025

Watched: Wednesday 25th of June 2025