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F1 (film)

2025 film by Joseph Kosinski From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

F1 (film)
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F1 (marketed as F1 the Movie) is a 2025 American sports drama film directed by Joseph Kosinski from a screenplay by Ehren Kruger. The film stars Brad Pitt as Formula One (F1) racing driver Sonny Hayes, who returns after a 30-year absence to save his former teammate's underdog team, APXGP, from collapse. Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, and Javier Bardem also star in supporting roles.

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Development of the film began in December 2021 with Pitt, Kosinski, Kruger, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer attached to the project; the latter three had previously collaborated together on Top Gun: Maverick (2022). Supporting cast members were revealed in early 2023, before the start of principal photography at Silverstone that July. Filming also took place during Grand Prix weekends of the 2023 and 2024 World Championships, with the collaboration of the FIA, the governing body of F1. Racing sequences were adapted from the real-life races, with F1 teams and drivers appearing throughout, including Lewis Hamilton, who was also a producer. Hans Zimmer composed the film's score, while numerous artists contributed to its soundtrack.

F1 premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on June 16, 2025, and was released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on June 27. The film received positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success grossing $603 million worldwide to date against a $200–300 million budget, becoming the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2025, and the highest-grossing film of Pitt's career.

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Plot

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Aging American racing driver and former Formula One (F1) prodigy Sonny Hayes lives nomadically as a racer-for-hire. Although he raced for Lotus in the 1990s, severe injuries from a crash at the Spanish Grand Prix in 1993 ended his F1 career.[c] He subsequently became a gambling addict and lost three marriages. After winning the 24 Hours of Daytona,[d] his former Lotus teammate Rubén Cervantes, who owns the APXGP F1 Team, offers him a test drive to fill their spare seat. Rubén discloses that his investors will sell the team unless APXGP—last in the World Constructors' Championship—wins one of the nine remaining Grands Prix that year. Sonny reluctantly agrees after Rubén tells him victory will make him "the best in the world".

At the Silverstone test, Sonny meets team principal Kaspar Smolinski, technical director Kate McKenna, and ambitious British rookie Joshua Pearce, who reveal seven drivers turned down the opportunity. Joshua remains arrogant, yet worries the potential sale will result in his replacement, believing he must trounce his teammates to impress the investors. During his test, Sonny struggles with modern F1 machinery but immediately identifies APXGP's weaknesses. He pushes the limit and crashes, but Kaspar recognizes his skill and signs him.

Sonny returns at the British Grand Prix, where slow pit stops demote the APXGP drivers to last after a promising start. Sonny ignores team orders to let Joshua by and they collide. In Hungary, Sonny mends his relationship with Joshua by exploiting F1 rules: by colliding with other drivers to force safety cars, he helps Joshua catch the midfield and score APXGP's maiden points finish.[e] Joshua adopts Sonny's old-school training methods, while Sonny emulates his simulator work and persuades Kate to redesign the car for "combat".[f] During the rain-affected Italian Grand Prix, Sonny encourages Joshua to remain on slick tires, which risks aquaplaning but vaults Joshua to second. Joshua ignores Sonny's advice to wait for a straight before attempting to overtake Max Verstappen. He hits a curb at Curva Parabolica and his car is engulfed in flames after flying over the barrier.[g] Joshua is rescued from the fire by Sonny and misses the next three races due to injury,[h] while Sonny claims consistent points. Blaming Sonny for his crash, Joshua resolves to defeat him.

In his comeback race—the Belgian Grand Prix—Joshua's aggressive driving causes a collision with Sonny, forcing him out of the race. Kate arranges a poker game where the winner gets favorable treatment at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Joshua wins but, after he leaves, Sonny reveals he intentionally folded with a winning hand. Impressed, Kate invites Sonny to her hotel room and they spend the night together. Rubén interrupts them to announce an anonymous tip claimed Kate manufactured upgrades illegally.[i] Kate denies wrongdoing, but the FIA demand the upgrades' removal. During the race, Sonny gets road rage and crashes. As Sonny recovers, Rubén learns his 1993 injuries permanently impaired him, and fires him for his safety. Board member Peter Banning reveals to Sonny that he orchestrated his signing and the complaint so he could fire Rubén and sell APXGP, offering to promote him to team principal if the sale goes through.

Before the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Joshua commits to being more disciplined, admitting his crash was not Sonny's fault. Sonny persuades Rubén into letting him race and declines Peter's offer. The FIA exonerates Kate, allowing APXGP to restore her upgrades. During the race, Joshua takes the lead by remaining on worn tires, but is overtaken by Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc; an opportune red flag is shown after a struggling Sonny, in fourth, collides with George Russell, allowing both APXGP drivers to restart on fresher tires. After passing Leclerc, Sonny sacrifices his chance at victory by forcing Hamilton to block his overtake instead of Joshua's. However, Hamilton and Joshua collide on the final lap, clearing the way for Sonny's maiden victory and blocking the sale. APXGP celebrate their victory, with Rubén joining Sonny on the podium, exclaiming "we are the best in the world". Toto Wolff offers Joshua a seat at Mercedes, but Joshua declines. Sonny and Kate confirm their relationship. Joshua congratulates Sonny, who returns to his nomadic lifestyle, competing in the Baja 1000.

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Cast

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Simone Ashley was cast in an undisclosed role, but her appearance was cut to only a cameo, credited as herself.[10][11] Additionally, Craig Dolby and Duncan Tappy acted as stunt drivers, alongside Bacheta.[12]

Formula One drivers, personnel and others

The film is based on the 2023 Formula One season and was filmed during both the 2023 and 2024 seasons.[13] As a result, many Formula One drivers and personnel appear in the film as themselves. The drivers are as follows, with the teams and achievements they had at the time:[14][15]

Formula One personnel that appear in the film include:

Sky Sports F1 commentators Martin Brundle and David Croft provide commentary for races depicted in the film.[16] Leigh Diffey provides commentary for the 24 Hours of Daytona scene.[17] Cameo appearances include Porsche factory driver Patrick Long as Sonny's other co-driver at the 24 Hours of Daytona race,[18] motorsport presenters Rachel Brookes, Natalie Pinkham, and Will Buxton,[19] Dutch DJ Tiësto[20] and social media influencers Sabrina Bahsoon[21] and Simon Minter.

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Production

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Development

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Joseph Kosinski (left) directed the film, reuniting with Top Gun: Maverick producer Jerry Bruckheimer and writer Ehren Kruger. Seven-time World Drivers' Champion Lewis Hamilton (right) was a producer.

On December 3, 2021, a bidding war commenced for an untitled film starring Brad Pitt, with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Joseph Kosinski, and screenwriter Ehren Kruger, who previously worked on Top Gun: Maverick (2022), on board in their respective roles. Sources said F1 driver Lewis Hamilton was also involved in the film as both a producer and actor. Studios involved in the bidding were Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Walt Disney Pictures, and streaming platforms Netflix, Apple, and Amazon.[22] Pitt was paid $30 million for his involvement.[23]

In November 2022, Claudio Miranda announced he would be the film's cinematographer.[24] In April 2023, Damson Idris was hired after a lengthy casting process, which included a shortlist of actors driving the car in January 2023.[25] Kerry Condon and Tobias Menzies would join the cast in the following months.[26][27] Sarah Niles and Simone Ashley also joined the cast.[28][10] However, in June 2025, Kosinski revealed that Ashley's role had been cut from the film.[11]

On July 5, 2024, the title F1 was announced. A teaser trailer premiered before the 2024 British Grand Prix.[29] Kruger received sole credit for the film's screenplay, along with story credit with Kosinski. Jez Butterworth, Kara Smith, Aaron Sorkin, and Christopher Storer earned off-screen "Additional Literary Material" credit.[30]

In May 2024, Puck's Matthew Belloni reported the film's budget to be $300 million.[31] Bruckheimer and Kosinski disputed the claim; the former cited rebates and sponsorships as lowering the budget, and the latter said: "I've never had an experience where they were off by this much on a film. I'm not sure where that number came from."[32] In 2025, ahead of the film's theatrical release, some industry sources reported the film's budget to be $200 million, though others still claimed the $300 million figure (Apple would regularly dish out $200 million for its pictures).[33][34][3]

Filming

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Principal photography began at Silverstone in July 2023.

Prior to filming, Pitt and Idris tested Formula Three and Formula Two cars at Paul Ricard in France.[32][35] The Dallara F2 2018 was stretched, widened and modified with a Formula One aerodynamic package created by Mercedes Applied Science and run by Carlin Motorsport.[36][32][12] Six visually identical chassis were created in total, some powered by the Mecachrome V634, some by GP3 V6 engines, and one by an electric motor, which was used to prevent overheating for shots in the pit lane.[12][37] Another six remote-controlled chassis were used to film crashes.[38]

In July 2023, principal photography began at the Silverstone Circuit in the United Kingdom, including filming during the British Grand Prix weekend between July 7–9,[39] outside of the official F1 sessions.[40][41][42] The APXGP team had its own garage and motorhome during the weekend and their car was kept on display alongside other F1 cars during the mandatory "show and tell" session before the track action.[43][44] Pitt was present with the actual drivers at the drivers' briefing and he and Idris stood alongside the drivers during the national anthem before the race. Their two cars were placed at the back of the grid with stunt drivers driving a part of the formation lap.[45][43]

Apple designed a custom onboard camera for the car based on iPhone and powered by its A-series system on a chip.[46] The camera technology used for the fast-paced shots had evolved since Top Gun: Maverick.[47][48] With help from Sony,[37] the cameras were shrunk to about a quarter of the size of those from Maverick such that up to four cameras could be set up onto the cars at a time, with minimal effect to weight.[48] The camera bodies and RF transmitters were stashed in the floor of the cars.[38] Panavision also designed a special remote control that allowed the cameras on the cars to create panning movements.[48]

Filming also took place at the Hungaroring, Spa-Francorchamps, Monza, Zandvoort, Suzuka, Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Las Vegas, Yas Marina,[32] and Brands Hatch—which was used as a stand-in for the onboard Jerez footage and the fiery crash scene in Italian Grand Prix.[49][50] At the 2024 24 Hours of Daytona, the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R competed with a livery of the fictional "Chip Hart Racing" team from the film, with multiple replicas of it and the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 used for filming. A camera-mounted Lola B2K/10 was used as a filming car for high-speed shots.[51] The filming car struggled to keep up with the modified F2 cars and by the time filming had shifted to Hungary, the car lost oil pressure and had a pump failure, which led to it being scrapped and replaced by one of the GP3-engined APXGP cars.[12] The APXGP headquarters scenes were filmed at the McLaren Technology Centre, while Williams provided its wind tunnel for some shots, and the racing simulator scenes were filmed at the Mercedes headquarters in Brackley.[52]

Speaking with former F1 driver and Sky Sports F1 pundit Martin Brundle at the 2023 British Grand Prix, Pitt confirmed Javier Bardem would star.[53] Later that month, ESPN reported that the film was titled Apex, but later retracted this claim.[54]

The week after filming had started at the British Grand Prix, the SAG-AFTRA strike began, resulting in the lead actors not being available and a reduced crew consisting of only Equity actors sent to races from the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards.[55] Filming was then forced to continue through the 2024 season to make up for the lost races.[56]

Music

Main article: F1 the Album

During the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix, Hans Zimmer announced he would be composing the score for the film, marking his second collaboration with Kosinski after Top Gun: Maverick. It is also Zimmer's second Formula One-related score, following the Ron Howard-directed film Rush (2013). Zimmer co-composed the score with Steve Mazzaro, creating what Kosinski described as a musical identity that reflects Formula One's dual nature, "a sport that straddles both the past and the present, with its rich history and cutting-edge technology."[57]

Zimmer crafted a "hybrid" score combining orchestra and electronic music. He envisioned the orchestra as "the human that sits inside the machine," while the electronics represented the machine itself. Discussions with producer and F1 champion Lewis Hamilton helped shape Zimmer's understanding of that relationship, influencing how the music was written.[57] Electronic music, Zimmer noted, was also key to capturing the unpredictability of racing. "With synthesizers, it’s the same as in the race – you don’t quite know who’s going to do what next. There’s always the element of surprise built in, and I think that’s very important in a film like this: you score for surprise."[57]

The score features guitarist Tim Henson, drummer Marco Minnemann and members of Zimmer's touring band. This marks Zimmer's 13th collaboration with Bruckheimer, beginning with Days of Thunder (1990).[57] Central to the score is a recurring motif for Pitt's character, Sonny Hayes, which Zimmer described as a "gunslinger motif."[57] Zimmer and Mazzaro paid attention to the way the score interacts with the film's sound design and visuals.

The film's soundtrack, F1 the Album, was released day-and-date with the film's North American debut. Don Toliver and Doja Cat released the lead single "Lose My Mind" on April 30, 2025, followed by Rosé's "Messy" on May 8, Myke Towers's "Baja California" on May 23, Tate McRae's "Just Keep Watching" on May 30, and Ed Sheeran's "Drive" on June 20. Additional promotional singles include "No Room for a Saint" by Dom Dolla, "Bad as I Used to Be" by Chris Stapleton, "OMG!" by Tiësto and Sexyy Red, and "Underdog" by Roddy Ricch.

Post-production

Ryan Tudhope was the VFX supervisor,[58] and Framestore provided post-production services on the film, citing involvement from their studios in Montreal, London and Mumbai.[59] Tudhope returned to collaborate with director Joseph Kosinski, leveraging techniques they used on Top Gun: Maverick to re-skin jets to replace F1 cars captured during real Grands Prix with the fictional black-and-gold APXGP cars.[60]

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Marketing

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Promotional booth for F1 in Bridgetowne

The film was marketed under the title F1 the Movie.[61][62][63]

Ahead of its release, Apple gave the film a comedic spotlight at its 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference, held on 9 June. The keynote opened with Craig Federighi at the wheel of the APXGP car — complete with Apple CarPlay on board — navigating the roof of Apple Park as if running a solo grand prix, with Tim Cook as his race director. [64]

Two official trailers followed: the first debuted during the weekend of the 2024 British Grand Prix, and the second premiered ahead of the 2025 Australian Grand Prix.[65][66][67] A television spot was also aired during Super Bowl LIX.[68]

On 11 June 2025, Apple released a “haptic trailer” for the film; when played on the Apple TV app, the Taptic Engine on supported iPhones vibrates and pulses sync with the on-screen action.[69]

Sponsorships from various brands featured in the film brought in at least $40 million, according to Forbes estimates.[70] Many of the brands were featured on the APXGP cars and clothing as team sponsors, such as Expensify, GEICO, SharkNinja, MSC Cruises and EA Sports.[70] Other sponsors that featured on the cars such as IWC Schaffhausen released watches themed on APXGP's black and gold colors, Tommy Hilfiger launched a line of clothing, and Mercedes-AMG revealed a limited APXGP-edition Mercedes-AMG GT 63. The F1 25 game by EA Sports featured the APXGP livery as it appears in the film alongside scenarios that players can undertake.[71] Peak and GEICO were sponsors of the fictional "Chip Hart Racing" (played by Wright Motorsports in IMSA) team from the 24 Hours of Daytona scenes.[72] Heineken 0.0 released a commercial for their product featuring Pitt and Idris as F1 drivers.[73][74]

At the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans, the #90 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R ran a livery similar to the one used for filming at the 2024 24 Hours of Daytona.[75] At the 2025 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen the following weekend, the same #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R used for filming in 2024 ran the race with the livery from the film.[76] The drivers, crew and IMSA personnel were also given a private screening.[76]

Hot Wheels released of a 1:64-scale die-cast model of the #7 APXGP car driven by Brad Pitt's character in the film.[77] In certain Latin American countries, McDonald's launched a special combo in partnership with F1, where customers had the option to pay extra to get a 1:43 scale APXGP or McDonald's-liveried Bburago model car.[78] Some McDonald's outlets in São Paulo also had full-size F1 cars on display.[78]

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Release

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In June 2022, Apple acquired distribution rights in a package deal worth $130–140 million before above-the-line compensation.[79] In June 2024, Warner Bros. Pictures acquired the theatrical, home entertainment and digital purchase distribution rights from Apple; Apple retains SVOD rights and the film will become available on Apple TV+ at a later date.[80] The film had an early IMAX screening on June 23, 2025.[81] The film was released in the IMAX format internationally on June 25, 2025, and was released domestically on June 27, 2025.[82] A private screening was held in Monaco during the Cannes Film Festival for the drivers of the 2025 F1 season.[83] Due to popular demand, the film was re-released in IMAX on August 8, 2025.[84]

The film had its world premiere on June 16, 2025, at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City, with the cast and 2025 F1 drivers in attendance.[85] The European premiere was held on June 23 at Empire Leicester Square in London.[86] A Qatar Airways flight from Montreal to New York was chartered for the F1 drivers and team principals to attend the premiere following the Canadian Grand Prix.[87]

Home media

F1 was released on digital on August 22, 2025.[88]

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Cybercrime

The release of the film coincided with a significant rise in cybercrime, as scammers exploited the film's popularity by creating fake live streaming sites and fraudulent toy giveaways linked to a bogus McDonald's–Apple promotion, tricking users into sharing personal and financial information. Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky confirmed that these scams were widespread.[89]

Reception

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Box office

As of August 25, 2025, F1 has grossed $185.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $417.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $603.7 million.[4][5] Opening to $146.3 million worldwide,[5] the film is considered to be Apple Studios's first box office hit, and the first film from the studio to top the box office on its opening weekend.[90] It surpassed $200 million in its second weekend.[91] In early August, it became the highest-grossing Brad Pitt film in history, surpassing the $540 million theatrical run of World War Z (2013).[92]

In the United States and Canada, F1 was released alongside M3GAN 2.0, and was projected to gross anywhere from $35 million to $60 million in its opening weekend, with most industry estimates around $40 million.[93][94] The film made $10 million in previews, including $7 million from Thursday showings.[95] It debuted to $57 million, topping the box office.[96] In its second weekend, the film made $26.1 million, dropping 54%, finishing second behind newcomer Jurassic World Rebirth, and surpassing Napoleon (2023) to become Apple Studios's highest-grossing film.[97] F1 made $13.1 million in its third weekend, finishing third behind Superman and Jurassic World Rebirth.[98][99]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 82% of 347 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Driven by Brad Pitt's laidback magnetism and sporting a souped-up engine courtesy of Joseph Kosinski's kinetic direction, F1 the Movie brings vintage cool across the finish line."[100] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 56 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[101] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it a 92% overall positive score, with 78% saying they would definitely recommend the film.[3]

BBC's Nicholas Barber gave the film two stars out of five and wrote: "Formula One enthusiasts may disagree, and they may be delighted that their beloved motorsport has been put on the big screen in such a laudatory fashion. Everyone else: this is not where you want to be."[102] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times deemed F1 to be "an enjoyably arranged collection of all the visual attractions and narrative clichés that money can buy".[103]

In motorsport media

Reception within motorsport media was mixed. Ben Hunt of Autosport said it was "good for non-F1 fans", whereas Mark Mann-Bryans said it was "not good for anyone watching", lauding the production quality and soundtrack but criticising the plot and female character tropes.[104][105] Fred Smith of Road & Track said the film was "entertaining, but hardcore racing fans will wince".[106] Phillip Horton of Autoweek described the film as "solid enough nonsense for a little bit of escapism".[107]

Katy Fairman of Motor Sport described the film as "comedically unrealistic", adding that "with the level of access they had into [F1] itself, it felt a little like [APXGP] before Sonny Hayes showed up: pointless".[108] Mixed reviews also came from journalists at The Race, with praise for the racing sequences and criticism for its depiction of women in motorsport and plot.[109] Top Gear's Jason Barlow described it as "a crowd-pleasing, feel-good blockbuster".[110] Chris Medland of Racer described the racing footage as "spectacular", but criticised the character development—particularly that of Kate McKenna—and added that "for some it might be too hard to get lost in the APXGP world when you know so much about the real one that it was filmed in—as incredible as that world looks".[111]

Defending four-time World Drivers' Champion Max Verstappen skipped the private screening for F1 drivers and the New York premiere, and Carlos Sainz Jr. cautioned "pure F1 fans" to "be open-minded to Hollywood films".[112]

Accolades

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Future

Following the early box office success of the film, Variety reported that a sequel was being discussed and the Financial Times reported on the possibility of a franchise.[114][91]

See also

Notes

  1. Split distribution between Warner Bros. Pictures and Apple TV+; Warner Bros. handles the theatrical, home media and VOD releases, while Apple exclusively handles the SVOD release.
  2. Both Kosinski and Bruckheimer claim the budget was $200 million; several industry analysts have estimated it to be up to $300 million.[2][3]
  3. Based on Martin Donnelly and his career-ending crash at the 1990 Spanish Grand Prix.[6]
  4. Sonny is depicted winning the GTD class of the 24 Hours of Daytona, the fourth-highest class after GTP, LMP2, and GTD Pro; under the rules in IMSA, drivers who are older than 55—regardless of status—are declared amateurs.
  5. Based on the intentional crash of Nelson Piquet Jr. at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.[7]
  6. Sonny convinces Kate to ensure the car is aerodynamically efficient in racing scenarios to account for dirty air, where other teams design for clean-air performance, helping the APXGP car stay closer to its rivals while cornering to aid overtaking.
  7. Based on Alex Peroni and his airborne crash at the 2019 Monza Formula 3 round, as well as Niki Lauda's fiery crash at the 1976 German Grand Prix and Romain Grosjean's at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix.[8][9]
  8. The Dutch, Japanese, and Mexico City Grands Prix.
  9. The tip alleged that Kate manufactured her floor upgrades with external assistance, which is against the technical regulations of F1.
  10. Bearman was credited in the film but did not compete in any of the Grands Prix where filming took place.
  11. The film is set in 2023, when the team was known as Alfa Romeo.
  12. The film is set in 2023, when the team was known as AlphaTauri.
  13. "Guanyu" is Zhou Guanyu's given name, but he was placed between Gasly and Hamilton in the end credits.
  14. The film is set in 2023, at which point Verstappen was a two-time World Drivers' Champion.
  15. The film is set in 2023, when Steiner was in this role.
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References

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