F1 (2025)

Is there any way whatsoever that a film called F1 The Movie can be any good? When it comes to racing, we've recently had Gran Turismo (2023) which received fairly middling reviews, the more favorably received Ford Vs Ferrari (2019), and probably the best of the lot with Ron Howard's Rush back in 2013.

Joseph Kasinski's F1 in its very premise seems like the ultimate exercise in cliched box ticking with an enormous wheel of cheese thrown on top. Watching the trailer, you assume Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem have been paid an astronomical amount of money to star in the film, which has been marketed to within an inch of its life, and is produced by Lewis Hamilton amongst others, and features several cameos from the summit of the sport.

In reality, F1's plot is very similar to that of Pixar's Cars (2006), with Pitt's washed out ex-F1 driver Sonny Hayes being persuaded by old friend Javier Bardem to join his failing team alongside rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) in a desperate attempt to stop them going out of business. Hayes now just races in whatever form he can; he has no money, no ambition, no real care in the world- but by god does he still look good.

From here on in, F1 ticks every single cliche you can possibly think of. The script is dire, you can telegraph the entire film from minute one, there's no surprises or anything remotely interesting in terms of inventiveness from a plot point of view or indeed the characters themselves. And at nearly two and a half hours, it's way too long.

And yet. F1 is just about the most fun you're likely to have in the cinema this summer.

Everything that Jurassic World: Rebirth (as another summer blockbuster for example) was lacking in terms of action, characters, or your emotions is met- and more so- by Kasinski's film. The advantage of being produced by someone like Lewis Hamilton, it seems, is that the race sequences as well as everything else addressed by the film about the sport itself, is authentic. This means that F1 succeeds where films like Wimbledon (2004) or Challengers (2024) fail so badly. Those films got the very basics about the sports they were depicting wrong; and with that, lost myself as a viewer. To a certain extent anyway- Wimbledon remains a perfectly acceptable British Rom-com, it's just the tennis that's nonsense.

F1 however, nails its race sequences, meaning that even if you don't care about the characters (which Brad Pitt makes it almost impossible to do) you're engaged with the action. The middle section of the film comprises of lengthy in-depth race montages, all of which are exhilarating- and even if the races offer totally implausible outcomes or rule application, it simply doesn't matter- you're totally swept up in it. It might help if, like me, you know very little about F1 and are more easily swept along, but I've heard from big F1 fans that the racing is impressive in its accuracy.

The whole thing really should come crashing down at any minute; Pitt's Hayes strikes up a relationship with teammate Kerry Condon's Kate that you would roll your eyes at if they weren't both so damn likeable, Idris' up and comer's story arc is so telegraphed that you can almost offer his lines before they arrive- simply put, none of it should work.

That it does, and so well, is huge credit to Kasinski. This is the man behind Top Gun: Maverick (2022) lest one forget, the man who offered a sequel to one of the most loved cult films of all time- and gave us something wonderful.

F1 isn't anywhere near as good a film as Top Gun: Maverick, but for Kasinski to produce something this enjoyable, this ridiculously fun, while hampered with a script that I could have written and characters that on paper should offer nothing- is nothing short of astonishing. Of course, the actors deserve great credit for this as well, and Pitt, Bardem, Condon and Idris all do their jobs expertly.

F1 is far from a great film. But to come out of something so flawed having- for want of a better phrase- absolutely loved it, proves that everyone involved (Kasinski especially) has done something very right. 7.7/10