The race problem behind the racy ‘F1' movie

TimesLIVE

18 hours ago

Everybody loves a good sports movie, especially as streamers feed the insatiable hunger binge watchers have for documentaries.
With the likes of David Beckham and Usain Bolt pulling back the veils from their misunderstood lives, the cinema of fast-paced flicks is slowly taking over.
Coming into the fold is Joseph Kosinski's F1, which follows his winning trajectory of fast-paced dramas.
Starring Brad Pitt, who plays the fictional Sonny Hayes, F1 follows a former American Formula One driver on the verge of a career comeback late in life.
After a horrific crash earlier in his career, Sonny's life spiralled out of the limelight and into destructive behaviours and career changes. His former teammate Ruben Cervantes (played by Javier Bardem) pulls him from the chaotic world of NASCAR and back into Formula One racing in the hope of reviving fictional motor racing company Apex.
Each cast member shines in what is a definitive movie that has pulled audiences back to the cinema, hitting $146m in its first week.
While the movie successfully scores, directs and costumes Pitt into what could easily be an Oscar favourite, it runs into a snag with its supporting cast.
Its most glaring issues can be seen with Apex GP's rising talent, Joshua Pearce, played by Snowfall star Damson Idris.
With barely enough wins to save the company from a troubled reputation, the pressure is on Joshua to make the right moves on the track to secure a much-needed win. However, with Sonny looking to make a comeback, the story creates a conflict between the two, which makes for great tension.
While Idris shines alongside Pitt, it does seem he may be miscast in this role — not due to a lack of talent, but because of issues left bare in the writing room.
While Sonny is framed as a recluse loose cannon brimming at the helmet with talent, Joshua is framed as a template for a fame-obsessed rookie. However, with Idris being black and quite talented at showcasing the pain in Joshua's training, the storyline falls flat as a judgmental gaze at the pressures of success.
The initial scenes on meeting Joshua showcase a number of these elements. He exposits about a former teammate who has been benched (in favour of Sonny) and racially discriminated against, with Apex GP's marketing team forcing Joshua to suck it up and fake it for the press.
This is the same expectation thrust on Joshua when he meets Sonny, who makes an aloof entrance and does not co-operate with the Apex GP team. So much so that it costs him and Joshua multiple wins.
Joshua confronts Sonny's insubordination but is met with little support from senior members of Apex GP, leading to a blow-up between him and Sonny, where cameras catch them in a heated exchange.
Joshua reverts to his signature pose and a wide smile, playing nice for the camera and an impenitent Sonny who shames him for keeping a good face in light of the conflict.
These moments go on to define Joshua's experiences, where there's very little understanding of the racial context to what he is experiencing.
Joshua's experiences in F1 echo studies into black fatigue and code switching, which are efforts made by black people in workplaces where they have to work twice as hard as white counterparts to fit in to the professional environment.
Joshua is the only other person of colour in the Apex GP team and with a lot of chatter from the corporate members around him looking to have him axed, it becomes increasingly difficult to trust his standing in his workplace.
As a solution, Joshua and his manager cut outside deals through club appearances, brand-sponsored social media posts and an intense workout regimen that constantly gets contrasted with the detached world Sonny lives in.
Rather than alleviate this pressure, we see Joshua struggle to secure his living due to not feeling as secure as Sonny or the benched colleague. This is also echoed in the many mistakes Sonny makes while Joshua is lambasted for one slip that the story continues to bring up until he accounts for it.
As part of the flubbed attempt at making Joshua seem like an arrogant, fame-hungry member of the team, the movie constantly displays a dislike for technology. Whether it's Joshua's use of social media or the hi-tech training equipment he painstakingly uses to keep up with the high standards placed on him, the movie makes him the poster boy for a future that conflicts with a past it can't seem to fully define.
In its poor attempt at stereotyping Joshua's character, it creates a supporting cast filled with uninteresting roleplayers who fall into tired tropes we've seen too many times before.
It is especially glaring with Kerry Condon (Banshees of Inisherin), who is underutilised as a trope often mocked by TikTokers and today's leading ladies. A scientist whose place in the team is questioned based on gender and becomes defined by becoming the lead character's love interest.
Rather than celebrating differences and allowing its main character to shine as an impulsive leader, F1 takes a wrong turn from a thrilling redemption story that's oversteered into a movie that longs for but can't quite give meaning to nostalgia.