As a huge Formula 1 fan I was excited when the F1 movie was announced but also incredibly skeptical that many aspects of the sport could not be dramatized without becoming nonsensical.
My expectations were exactly met. The film is exciting despite some of it being completely nonsensical.
Brad Pitt, who is now 60 years old, plays Sonny Hayes, a supposedly washed up driver who joins a struggling F1 team to help turn it around. I say “supposedly” because in the opening scene of the film he literally wins the 24 Hours of Daytona. Granted going from that race immediately to an F1 team is a pretty big stretch but we’re supposed to believe that a driver capable of winning one of the world’s top endurance races is completely washed up….but I digress.
Pitt does a great job throughout the film but I will say, and I know this is cinema blasphemy, maybe he’s a bit too old for this role? Someone like Michael Fassbender comes to mind who, while not quite as big of a box office pull as Pitt, is a big enough star and actually has high caliber real world racing experience. He actually raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in real life….Anyway, Pitt’s fine. I read that Tom Cruise was also considered early on and I do think the film is better with Pitt than it would’ve been with Cruise.
(side note: if you want a great racing documentary free on YouTube, watch Michael Fassbender: Road to Le Mans – The Film which follows Fassbender as he trains and races in Le Mans with a Porsche team)
Damson Idris plays the young arrogant driver on the team who Hayes needs to teach a thing or two. Idris shines, I dare say he outshines Pitt. He certainly has a bright future in Hollywood ahead of him.
Javier Bardem plays Ruben, the owner of the team and previous racing competitor of Hayes. The back and forths between Ruben and Hayes throughout the film provide some good comic relief.
Kerry Condon plays the team’s Technical Director and serves as Pitt’s love interest. It’s great to see a female Technical Director depicted on screen; there has yet to be one in real life Formula 1. However, the fact that she must also function as an object of sexual desire in the plot is so tired.
But, F1 is completely full of standard racing film tropes anyway. If you’re looking for some kind of deep A24-style racing film, this is most certainly not it. The plot serves the action as I suppose it should in a great action film.
So, let’s talk about the racing. It’s mostly overly-sensational. Hayes would’ve been banned from Formula 1 for life after his shenanigans during first race with the team. But, aside from the extreme dramatization required to provide blockbuster-level entertainment on the track, much of the surrounding context is more or less accurate. The techincal aspects of the cars and development and the race engineers’ roles and so on is done well. Many people involved directly in Formula 1 served as producers including 7 *cough 8* time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes Team Owner and Principal Toto Wolff (who has a quick cameo trying to poach a driver, lol), and many drivers and other Formula 1 personnel have cameos in the film. I believe it’s as technical as it can be without overwhelming the movie-going masses. If you’re not into Formula 1, just know that it’s many multitides more technical than is even depicted in the film, that’s what makes it great.
And appeal to the movie-going masses F1 has. It’s grossed more than $600 million and is the highest grossing film of Brad Pitt’s career.
For any regular action fan, F1 is great fun and worth a watch. Hardcore Formula 1 enthusiasts will have to work to suspend their disbelief. If they can do that successfully, they’ll be rewarded with a decent attempt at depicting their favorite sport on the big screen.