F1 : Tuesday 1st July 2025

I saw the M Rated 'F1' this week, and this American sports drama film is Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Joseph Kosinski whose prior feature film efforts take in 'Tron : Legacy' in 2010, 'Oblivion' in 2013, 'Only the Brave' in 2017, 'Top Gun : Maverick' in 2022 and 'Spiderhead' also in 2022. This film features the Formula One World Championship, created in collaboration with the FIA, its governing body, and is Co-Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Lewis Hamilton and Brad Pitt. The film was released internationally last week, cost somewhere between US$200 and 300M to produce, has so far grossed US$167M and has generated positive critical reviews.

The film opens with American racing driver and former Formula One (F1) prodigy, Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), living nomadically in a camper van and earning a crust as a racer-for-hire in any car and in any discipline. He raced for Lotus in the 1990's, and was destined to become the next big thing, until severe injuries from a crash at the Spanish Grand Prix in 1993 brought his F1 career to an abrupt halt. As a result, he became a gambling addict that cost him three marriages, disappeared from racing for ten years and even did a stint as a New York taxi driver. We see him win the 24 Hours of Daytona - the sports car endurance race for the Chip Hart Racing Team, with team owner Chip Hart (Shea Whigham) urging Sonny to stay on with the team after winning, but Sonny isn't interested and almost immediately exits the circuit in his camper van.

At a diner later that evening his former Lotus teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) tracks him down. Ruben is now the owner of the APXGP F1 Team, and offers him a test drive to fill their spare seat. Ruben states that his investors will sell the team unless APXGP, last in the World Constructors' Championship with no points and last in the Drivers Championship also with zero points, wins one of the nine remaining Grand Prix that year. Sonny reluctantly agrees after Ruben tells him victory will make him 'the best in the world', and places a first class airline ticket on the table to their UK HQ.

At the Silverstone test, Sonny meets team principal Kaspar Smolinski (Kim Bodnia), technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon), and ambitious British rookie driver Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), who states that seven drivers turned down the opportunity to drive for Apex. Joshua quietly worries the potential sale will result in his replacement, believing he must beat at all costs his teammates to impress the investors. During his test, Sonny struggles with the set up of a modern F1 car, but very quickly after just one lap of the circuit identifies the car's weaknesses. Despite crashing out in his maiden test drive around the circuit, Kaspar recognises his talent behind the wheel and agrees to him being signed up.

Sonny returns at the British Grand Prix, where slow and fumbled pit stops lead the APXGP drivers to last position after a fairly promising start. Sonny ignores team orders to let Joshua by and they collide, both spinning out of control into the sand traps. 

In Hungary, Sonny mends his relationship with Joshua by exploiting F1 rules by colliding with other drivers to force safety cars onto the track on three separate occasions. He helps Joshua catch the midfield and score APXGP's maiden points finish with a ninth placing. Joshua adopts Sonny's old-school training practices, and Sonny emulates his simulator work, and later persuades Kate to redesign the car for 'combat'. 

During the rain-soaked Italian Grand Prix, Sonny encourages Joshua to remain on slick tires, which risks aquaplaning but vaults Joshua up to second place. Joshua ignores Sonny's advice to wait for a straight before attempting to overtake Max Verstappen. He hits a curb and his car becomes airborne flying over a barrier and immediately explodes in a ball of flame upon landing. Sonny pulls him from the fire and Joshua misses three races with his hands badly burnt. Sonny meanwhile claims consistent points over the next few races, and grows in popularity with the fans. Joshua becomes more determined than ever to defeat him upon his return.

In his comeback race at the Belgian Grand Prix, Joshua's aggressive driving results in a collision with Sonny, forcing him out of the race and angering him. Kate arranges a poker game between her, Sonny and Joshua in the bar of their hotel in Las Vegas where the winner gets favourable treatment at the upcoming Las Vegas Grand Prix. Joshua wins with a pair of fives but, after he leaves, Sonny reveals he intentionally folded with a winning hand of a pair of Kings. 

Impressed, Kate courts Sonny and they spend the night together. Ruben interrupts them early the next morning to reveal that an anonymous tip claimed Kate manufactured the 'combat' upgrades illegally. Kate denies any wrongdoing, but the FIA (the governing body of many international motorsport championships and disciplines, including Formula One) demand the upgrades be removed, or they cannot race. During the race, Sonny gets road rage and crashes out. As Sonny recovers in a hospital bed, Ruben learns his 1993 injuries permanently impaired him, and fires him for his own safety, and to protect the integrity of his team. 

As he is about to leave the circuit and his team behind, he is approached by APXGP Board member Peter Banning (Tobias Menzies) who reveals to Sonny that he orchestrated his signing and the complaint to the FIA so he could fire Ruben and sell APXGP, offering to promote him to team principal if the sale goes through, making him rich beyond his wildest dreams. His gives Sonny three days to consider his offer. 

Before the last race of the season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Joshua commits to being more responsible and disciplined, admitting to his mother Bernadette (Sarah Niles) that his crash in Italy was not Sonny's fault, but his own. Sonny persuades Ruben into letting him race and declines Peter's offer via text message with a simple emoji flipping him the bird. The FIA exonerates Kate, allowing APXGP to restore her upgrades. During the race, Joshua takes the lead by remaining on worn tyres, but is overtaken by Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. 

A very welcome red flag is shown after a struggling Sonny, in fourth, collides with George Russell, causing all drivers to pit for ten minutes and for Sonny's car to be repaired and for both APXGP drivers to restart on a set of fresh tyres - a luxury the other drivers did not have because all the other teams used up their tyre allocations in practice and qualifying. After the ten minute pause and with just three laps remaining, Sonny passing Charles Leclerc, sacrifices his chance at victory by forcing Lewis to block his overtake instead of Joshua's. However, Lewis and Joshua collide on the final lap, clearing the way for Sonny's and APXGP's maiden victory, therefore preventing the sale of the team and cementing Ruben's position for another three years. 

Sonny and Ruben rejoice on the podium, exclaiming 'we are the best in the world'. Toto Wolff, team principal and co-owner of Mercedes offers Joshua a seat with his team at anytime, but Joshua gratefully declines. Sonny and Kate confirm their relationship, with the pair committing to see each other again 'down the road'. Joshua congratulates Sonny, who returns to his nomadic lifestyle, competing in the Baja 1000 - the annual Mexican off-road motorsport race held on the Baja California Peninsula, with a course of up to about 850 or more miles. 

As with 'Top Gun : Maverick' here Director and Co-Producer Joseph Kosinski and Producer Jerry Bruckheimer have spared no expense and fine tuned every last detail to put the audience right slap bang in the middle of the action, and where the roar of the engines, the thrill of the race and the emotion of winning and losing is concerned, where else would you want to be? Together with Brad Pitt and seven time World Champion F1 driver Lewis Hamilton who also serve as Co-Producers, this team have crafted an authentic race movie as you'll ever likely to see. The race sequences are thrilling and exhilarating, and the principle cast led by Pitt, Idris, Bardem and Condon all add a sense of realism and believability to the proceedings, ably aided and abetted by numerous cameo appearances from the complete line up of F1 drivers from the 2023 and 2024 seasons plus a number of team principals and owners that serve to cement the authenticity. Whilst the plot is fairly thin on the ground and at the same time predictable, the spectacle of being in the drivers seat with Sonny Hayes and Joshua Pearce and seeing the race track flash past and in front at 200+ MPH is what this film is all about, and on that level it doesn't disappoint, and at a running time of 155 minutes it doesn't leave you wanting either.

'F1' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-