F1: The Movie (2025)

For any fan of Formula 1, this is a must see movie. I actually had plans of going to see it with my sister in the theatre, both of us wearing our Formula 1 gear (me wearing either Aston Martin or Mercedes, her wearing Ferrari), but now I have to buy it on Amazon instead

Summary

-A former Formula One driver, who was a legend in his time, comes out of retirement to team up with a younger driver and his team

For any fans of F1, you should immediately recognize Oscar Piastri in this picture

Cast

-Brad Pitt: Sonny Hayes

-Damson Idris: Joshua Pearce

-Javier Bardem: Ruben Cervantes

-Kerry Condon: Kate McKenna

-Tobias Menzies: Peter Banning

-Kim Bodnia: Kaspar Smolinski

-Sarah Niles: Bernadette

-Will Merrick: Nickleby

-Joseph Balderrama: Fazio

-Abdul Salis: Dodge

-Callie Cooke:Jodie

-Leigh Diffey: Daytona Race Broadcaster

-Will Buxton: Himself

-Martin Savage: Las Vegas FIA Race Director

Did You Know?

-It took a year to convince the FIA (the governing body of Formula 1) and the ten teams to allow production of the teams and drivers on the tracks during race weekends. One concern of the Red Bull team was that they would be shown as the villain because the Mercedes team had built the car used in the movie and then Mercedes F1 driver Lewis Hamilton was included as a producer on the film. Jerry Bruckheimer stated that the FIA or any of the teams would be not shown in a negative way

-Filming the racing scenes were scattered throughout the 2023 and 2024 race weekends. A garage was set up for production between the garages of the Mercedes and Ferrari teams

-For the drivers of the 2025 racing season, a private screening of the movie was held at the Cannes Film Festival

-Brad Pitt and Damson Idris did all of their own driving in this film

-Sarah Niles, who plays the mother of Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), is only 4 years older than him

-The car Brad Pitt drove is a modified Dallara F2 2018. The motor was replaced with an electric motor. It was created with the help of the Mercedes F1 team and Carlin Motorsport

-Brad Pitt is a long time fan of auto racing

-Director Joseph Kosinski was worried about Sir Lewis Hamilton's reaction to the footage of racing. Kosinski said "He smiled and said 'It looks fast.' I was like 'Oh, thank God.' If Lewis says that, we're in a good place.'"

-Any interior shots of the actors behind the wheel is actually them driving. No stunt men were used for the racing scenes. Brad Pitt logged over 6,000 miles of racing time, which now makes him quite experienced

-The scenes showing the racing simulator were done at the HQ and factory for the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team in the UK

-Bernie Collins, a Northern Irish female Formula 1 strategy engineer, was the inspiration for Kerry Condon's character, who was the first female technical director of the Formula One APX GP team

-Sonny Hayes would wear mismatched socks, a trait that former F1 driver Alex Wurz would do. Wurz would wear mismatched racing shoes and socks

-As a tribute to the F1 world, HAAS team principal Guenther Steiner can be seen swearing. He is famous for his profane language among Formula 1 fans. He does it silently in the film, but lip readers can still pick it up. Despite not being seen using profane language during broadcasts, the Netflix series Drive to Survive did an episode featuring Guenther Steiner, making it clear about his use of profanity

-The headquarters for the APX team is actually the McLaren headquarters. It's the McLaren Technology Center

-The English Bulldog being walked through the paddock early in the film belongs to Formula 1 driver Sir Lewis Hamilton. The dog's name is Roscoe and he frequently joins Lewis during racing weekends

-This film was initially considered as a sequel to the 1990 film Days of Thunder

-Max Verstappen, driver for the Red Bull team, skipped the private screening for the F1 drivers and the New York premier while Carlos Sainz Jr, driver for Ferrari and now Williams Racing, cautioned the "pure F1 fans" to be "open minded to Hollywood films"

-Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) has a tattoo on his left arm. It's of the Jerez circuit in Spain, the circuit in which his character had his career-ending crash during an F1 race in the 1990s

-The name of the racing team Sonny joins is APX, pronounced Apex, the innermost point of a corner that a car can take to minimize lap time

-As part of an invitation from McLaren team principal Zak Brown, Brad Pitt took McLaren driver Lando Norris' car out for a private test at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) circuit in Texas. Lando Norris and SkySports commentator and former Formula 1 driver Martin Brundle were present to give Pitt any advice. He did three laps in Norris' car

Zak Brown, McLaren Team Principal

-Black and gold are the colors of the APX team. They are also the same colors for the University of Missouri, where Brad Pitt attended school and dropped out