How ‘F1: The Movie' Compares To Actual F1 Racing

Forbes

a day ago

Brad Pitt, stars as Sonny Hayes, a driver of the fictional Apex APXGP F1 team in F1: The Movie. ... More (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
F1: The Movie, starring Brad Pitt, is a summer adrenaline rush, but does it accurately depict what F1 racing is all about?
Let's get this out of the way: F1: The Movie is the kind of action-packed fun you'd expect of a summer blockbuster. If you've never followed Formula 1 racing or only briefly known about it, like Netflix's Drive To Survive, it may be your gateway into becoming a fan. As Top Gun ultimately became a commercial tool for recruiting people into the Navy, F1: The Movie is pure Hollywood, designed to market F1 to the masses.
WARNING: SPOILERS
For fans of F1, those who race, and the media that covers it, F1: The Movie could come as a disappointment. Where movies like the 1966 John Frankenheimer classic Grand Prix, or more recently Ron Howard's Rush, feel more parts documentary combined with drama, F1: The Movie is one part Days Of Thunder, one part The Natural, and one part Major League. The storyline and the reality of what happens behind the scenes and on the track in Formula 1 begin at the start and don't end until the credits. What is irrefutably compelling and will keep most race fans engaged is the eye-popping on-track sequences and state-of-the-art camera placement that not only makes one feel like they're on the cars, but inside the eyes of the principal racing characters in the film. Given that sign-off came from the FIA, F1, Liberty Media, with Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff producing, the movie's incredible backdrop of actual race weekend access with real drivers like Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclec, and more in cameos, gives the feel of it being at the F1 race schedule. In at least one scene, the movie recreates Lewis Hamilton's 2023 Mexico Grand Prix overtake of Charles Leclerc, replacing Hayes for Hamilton.
Directed by Top Gun: Maverick's Joseph Kosinski, Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, an aged driver that was seen as an F1 prodigy with Lotus in the '90s but due to a tragic accident at the 1993 Spanish GP, has become washed up (somehow Pitt's outstanding driving as part of the winning the LMGT3 class at the 24 Hours of Daytona in the opening scenes keeps him labeled as 'washed up', but I digress). Now living out of a van, Hayes gets contacted by F1 team owner Rubin Cervantes, played by Javier Bardem, about a seat opening with his struggling fictitious APXGP team.
From the jump, this is where Hollywood and reality diverge.
Pitt is box office gold. Perhaps it's the lack of young action stars, but Pitt's role is following in the footsteps of Keanu Reeves and Tom Cruise, as older stars still make moviegoers believe they can excel far beyond their prime. Pitt is age 61. While he's spent time behind the wheel in race cars – most recently taking laps in the 2023 MCL60 McLaren F1 car at Circuit Of The Americas (COTA) – the notion that Pitt would ever be in the shape needed to race at the top levels required for Formula 1 is a fantastic leap. The current trend is to pluck drivers in their teens from F2 and develop them. Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso is currently the oldest driver on the grid at 43. Hence, the analogy of Robert Redford's role as Roy Hobbs in 1984's The Natural comes to mind: a young prodigy is beset by tragedy and emerges as an aged athlete to resurrect their career.
While the analytics and high-tech aspects of Formula 1 are touched on, the actual race strategy falls into the realm of the 'wild maverick upends the team and F1 with his driving antics.' Early on, Pitt's Sonny Hayes makes intentional contact with other cars and the barriers to purposely bring out the safety car to help teammate Joshua Pearce, played by Damson Idris, get the inferior APXGP car closer to the pack on restarts. If the FIA stewards are trigger-happy with doling out penalties in the real F1, Hayes and the APXGP team would be suspended and fined off the grid. At one point, Hayes pits for a tire change, and refuses to leave the box when the team has opted for a hard tire strategy over the driver's stubborn demand for softs. A full 30 seconds later, the team relents, Hayes gets his softs, and off he goes. No driver could do this and not be sent packing the second they were out of the car.
While F1: The Movie is going to be a great marketing vehicle to bring in fans, for the industry, it plays hard against the role of women in the paddock. It's Brad Pitt. It's a summer blockbuster. Like the aforementioned Days Of Thunder, there has to be a love interest, and it's here that the plot sees Hayes and APXGP technical director Kate McKenna, played by Irish actor Kerry Condon, make the connection. While there have been cases of personnel that work with drivers form romantic relationships (in IndyCar the late Dan Wheldon married Susie Behm who worked for Keystone Marketing doing PR work for Jim Beam, which sponsored his car at the time), the notion that a romantic fling between a driver and technical director would be completely off-limits. And early in the racing sequences, tire-gunner Jodie, played by Callie Cooke, makes what seems like a rookie mistake that only the sage male lead in Pitt can help her overcome her lack of confidence and shine. It's here that the movie undermines F1's efforts to lure women into the sport. It may all play well on the screen with regular moviegoers, but it does a disservice to F1's sincere efforts to bring diversity to the paddock.
So, is F1: The Movie like the real Formula 1? Of course not. It is a highly entertaining movie that, due to the incredible driving scenes, is a must-see at the theater. It has a chance at being one of – if not the – top box office draws of the summer. It will undoubtedly make new fans of Formula 1 and open-wheel racing, which is great for the sport. However, the movie is anything but documentary material. If F1: The Movie is the gateway drug to the world of Formula 1, the education of these new fans will be a long-standing part of the equation.