F1: The Movie - An honest review

Warning: Contains spoilers

Formula 1. Brad Pitt. Sir Lewis Hamilton. A billing as the most authentic racing movie ever made. Quite the hype to live up to for Joseph Kosinski's blockbuster, especially when the title of the most authentic racing movie ever made clearly belongs to the 1966 movie Grand Prix. Did F1 match its promise?

There was one question I was asking myself before going to see F1 on opening day at my local cinema. Did I want to go into the movie as a diehard Formula 1 fan, or as a casual movie-goer?

Going in with the mentality of a diehard Formula 1 fan might have been detrimental to the experience, as was the case when I started watching Drive to Survive. Instead of just enjoying the ride, I was critiquing every little thing I could, spotting continuity errors such as changing circuit mid-race, or pointing out that the team radio was oh so clearly misplaced within the action.

Remembering back to this attitude towards Drive to Survive, I promptly decided I wanted to enjoy F1 as much as possible, so I went in as a casual movie-goer watching a Hollywood film, not a "documentary".

Additionally, my excitement for the movie was heightened by the fact that my wife and I (along with LBRB founder Alex Johnston) were present at the 2023 British Grand Prix and got to witness some of the filming of the movie from the crowds. It was such a cool experience to see Brad Pitt and Damson Idris out on track driving the APX GP cars around Silverstone, and we had the hope that maybe, just maybe, we'd be seen in a crowd shot in the movie.

The movie started strongly with a cameo appearance by the 24 Hours of Daytona, as we are introduced to Brad Pitt's character Sonny Hayes, who awakens from a nap to take on a midnight stint for the team he is racing with. We are instantly given a flavour of what to expect from Sonny, as he makes use of his many years of experience to move up through the field while banging wheels with his rivals along the way.

Angering one particular rival who approaches him in the pit lane, Sonny is rescued from a fight by his mechanics before the camera pans down to him wielding a wrench, ready for the incoming assault. From there on in, you know this guy is a no BS driver who doesn't take any grief from anyone.

In the days after the race, Sonny is approached by an old friend from back in his younger days, Ruben Cervantes. Portrayed by Javier Bardem, it is soon established that they are former teammates, and Ruben now runs the APX GP team in Formula 1, which is on the brink of collapse.

Naturally, I know this scene is pivotal to the storyline, but just the very thought of a team manager approaching a driver who raced 30 years ago to return to the sport seems laughable. Imagine if Christian Horner got on the phone to Andrea Montermini and asked him to return to Formula 1!

Putting that aside, we soon see how Sonny's old-school attitude clashes with that of APX GP's already-established rookie driver, Joshua Pearce. A role played to perfection by Damson Idris, Pearce's cocky, better-than-everyone attitude rubs Sonny up the wrong way on multiple occasions, with Pearce's headstrong persona nearly getting him killed in a terrifying airborne accident at Monza.

As an aside, to the casual movie-goer the Monza crash might be seen as over-the-top and too dramatic, but the way the crash was portrayed was likely inspired by Alex Peroni's monster Formula 3 shunt at that same corner in 2019.

At least it wasn't inspired by the crashes in the 2001 movie Driven.

Incidentally, the driver who replaced Pearce while he recovered from his injuries was a surprise cameo by none other than Luciano Bacheta. For those of you unfamiliar with Bacheta, he was a relatively successful racing driver who won the FIA Formula Two title in 2012, but last raced in Blancpain in 2016 and hasn't really been heard from since. A more than handy driver back in his day, but I would never have guessed he'd reappear in a Hollywood movie!

The movie continues and begins to focus on the flirtation between Sonny and Kate McKenna, the technical director of the APX GP team. Seeing some headlines about the representation of females within the film, I wasn't sure what to expect from characters such as Kate in the movie. However, I was very pleased with how it was a female who designed the upgrade that made the team competitive and ultimately a race-winning outfit, and also that there were female members of the pit crew.

Much has been said about the fact that Pearce, in the movie, spoke down to a female member of the pit crew, a tyre gunner called Jodie, and it could have been interpreted by some that her gender had something to do with it.

Each viewer can take it as they please, but in my own personal opinion the cocky and arrogant Pearce would have said the same to any member of the pit crew, regardless of gender, who made a mistake that cost time during a pit stop.

There was definite potential for more female representation within the film, especially when you consider that Simone Ashley, of Bridgerton fame, was cut from the final version of the movie. However, I feel that the female representation we did get was done in a good manner and wasn't sullied by the blooming romance between Sonny and Kate. You have a handsome racing driver and a good-looking female member of staff; it's only natural that the topic of romance is explored.

Getting towards the end of the movie, and knowing the ultimatum that APX GP has to win a race to be saved from oblivion, the ending did become somewhat predictable. Also given the marketing of the film, and seeing multiple fan videos of filming taking place at Abu Dhabi, one already knew that Sonny would win the race and APX GP would be saved. However, even with that knowledge, the final race scenes were hugely enjoyable.

A crash for Sonny three laps from the end brings out the red flags as the barrier needs repairing. Hang on, isn't Sonny supposed to win this? Dragging the shattered car back to the pits during the red flag, the mechanics pull off a miracle to get the car repaired and Sonny rejoins near the front with teammate Pearce, Charles Leclerc, and race leader Lewis Hamilton.

Starting with fresh soft tyres, the APX GP duo immediately pass Leclerc and put pressure on Hamilton, the final lap beginning with Pearce and Hamilton fighting for the win. Still thinking, isn't Sonny supposed to win this?

But there is it, Pearce and Hamilton collide at turn one and leave the door open for Sonny to come through and take victory! Rapturous celebrations erupt in the APX GP garage, and an emotional Sonny takes to the podium, finally finding that winning feeling he's been searching for for the past 30 years.

So, my honest thoughts about the movie. I tried to avoid spoilers and other reviews about F1 so I could go in with an unbiased point of view and enjoy it for what it was: a Hollywood movie. I did accidentally stumble upon some comments about it which did somewhat sully my expectations of it.

Having said that, I came away very satisfied with what I felt was a much stronger movie than some people make it out to be. I am a diehard Formula 1 fan, I always have been, but I knew this wasn't another Drive to Survive and, despite its ambition of being the most authentic racing movie ever, wasn't going to give a 100% accurate representation of life within the sport.

To use the Drive to Survive comparison just once more, there was only one instance I spotted on first viewing where the circuit changed mid-race as Monza magically became Spa-Francorchamps for a single shot, but for this to only happen once is a huge improvement on the farce that Netflix produces each season.

One of my favourite aspects of the movie was the representation of the emotional side of being a racing driver. The heat of battle, the arguments behind the scenes, the dealing with life away from the track, and the realisation of dreams.

Sonny getting back to his room after winning in Abu Dhabi and stopping to take in what he had just achieved is possibly my favourite scene in the movie even with zero dialogue in that one shot, such was the acting prowess of Brad Pitt who put everything into understanding the emotional side of the racing driver for this role.

From a cinematography point of view, the movie was simply spectacular. Likened to Top Gun: Maverick in terms of its visual appeal, F1 certainly delivered on this front as the onboard cameras mounted to the APX GP cars brought the viewers right into the heart of the action, made even better by the use of spinning cameras that tracked overtakes and other on-track moments.

Despite my positive ramblings about the movie, it is not perfect and there are some flaws that maybe could and should have been picked up on by people such as producer Lewis Hamilton.

My biggest flaw with the movie was the storyline of the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Sonny deliberately caused three separate safety cars in order to help his teammate rise up the order into the points.

Cast aside in the movie as a genius tactic by Sonny, one can't help but think back to the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix and the famous "Crashgate" incident. Deliberate race-fixing isn't okay by any stretch of the imagination, and this scene in the movie definitely invoked feelings of race-fixing that had been seen before in the sport. But when the legendary Sonny Hayes does it...

To sum up, I purposely went in expecting not a lot and, for the most part, came away hugely impressed by what was achieved by the production crew. The fact that they filmed real Grands Prix at real tracks with real Formula 1 drivers also in the movie made the experience all the more special as it strived to make it as authentic as possible.

The most authentic racing movie ever? I will say I believe that title still belongs to Grand Prix, but F1 did a damn fine job of it and has entered into my top five racing movies of all time.

My score: 8.5/10

Image credits: F1