Racing movies have something of a mixed history in Hollywood, but when they’ve worked, they’ve really worked. While Formula 1 commands a huge worldwide audience, it has yet to overtake NASCAR in the U.S., but the Brad Pitt F1 movie could help to turn the tide.
The movie, which stars Pitt as a new driver for a fictional F1 team, is set to hit theaters in 2025. Before it arrives, though, here’s everything we know about the upcoming movie.
What is the Brad Pitt F1 movie about?
In the film, Pitt plays a driver named Sonny Hayes who’s joining the fictional racing team APXGP, which is led by Javier Bardem. Pitt added some additional color about the plot himself.
“So [Sonny Hayes] has a horrible crash, kind of craps out and disappears and is racing in other disciplines … His friend, played by Javier Bardem, is a team owner. They’re a last-placed owner, 21, 22 on the grid. They’ve never scored a point. They have a young phenom played by Damson Idris. He brings me in as a kind of Hail Mary, and high jinks ensue,” the star explained.
The film is directed by Joseph Kosinski, who is perhaps best known now for being the director behind Top Gun: Maverick, and Pitt has said that Kosinski will be deploying some of the same tricks he used on that film to make the racing feel especially visceral.
“Tell you what’s amazing about it,” Pitt said. “You’ll see the cameras mounted all over the car. You’ve never seen speed, you’ve never seen the G-forces like this. It’s really amazing.”
Who’s in the cast of F1?
In addition to Pitt, Bardem, and Idris, the film’s cast also includes Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, Sarah Niles, Kim Bodnia, and Samson Kayo. The film will also include several real-life F1 drivers, including Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz, and other drivers who play themselves in the film. These drivers are included in part because F1 was embedded in actual Formula 1 races while competition was going on.
The film is dedicated to the realism of Formula 1 racing
F1 is working as hard as possible to simulate what actual racing is like. In 2023, Kosinski and the cast were spotted filming scenes during the British Grand Prix, and they were actually camped out on the track. They even had their own F2 car that they were driving around.
“I’m a little giddy right now, I’ve got to say,” Pitt told Sky Sports. “It’s great to be here. Having such a laugh, time of my life.”
In addition to the British Grand Prix, the film will also feature other famous tracks including Daytona, Hungary, Spa in Belgium, Monza in Italy), Zandvoort in The Netherlands, Japan, Las Vegas, Abu Dhabi, and Mexico City.
Lewis Hamilton, one of the most successful F1 drivers in history, has also come aboard as one of the film’s producers, even while he continues to race professionally.
“He’s the first person I contacted three years ago. I knew for us to make it as authentic as possible, someone on the team who lives it day-in and day-out would be invaluable,” Kosinski told Deadline. “Lewis has been an incredible partner; he jumps on Zooms with me between races to go through the script, line by line, turn by turn, you know, tire compound by tire compound, to make sure that we are getting all the details right. Beyond that, on a creative and story level, he also has input.”
Pitt and Idris each trained for three months to race, starting in F3 cars before moving up to F2. Throughout the process, Kosinski said that he emphasized being as true to actual racing as possible, which meant building specialized F2 cars that could include 15 camera mounts.
“They all complain that racing movies aren’t fast enough because usually when they build these cars, they’re movie
Kosinski added that the cameras are really the next generation of what they did on Top Gun.
“We have bespoke cameras for this that are very small and light so that they don’t impede the performance of the car too much and that’s key because you don’t want to have a race car and then put 200 pounds of gear on it. Our camera mounts were designed with Mercedes as well. The cameras are specially designed by Sony,” he said. “The big innovation is that we’re now able to control the movement of the cameras on the cars. We’re not locked into these kinds of fixed positions we had on Top Gun. Now we have real-time control of panning and focusing them while shooting through a very extensive RF network that we’ve built around the tracks.”
Is there a trailer for F1?
The first trailer was released in July 2024, and it gives us a sense of just how amazing the racing will look when F1 finally hits theaters.
When is the release date for F1?
F1 is slated to hit theaters on June 27, 2025.
