F1 (2025) - 8/10

My expectations are low. I’m an F1 fan and a film nut, but do they go together? They should, fast cars are cinematic, but is that enough? Hell yeah it is. We meet Sonny (Brad Pitt), zipping up a race suit, grab a helmet, climb inside a GT car and hits the accelerator as Led Zeppelin bangs out. That’s F1 The Movie in a nutshell. Sonny is a renegade. An old school loose cannon, playing by his own rules. He jumps from one race car to another. His next jump being into, you guessed it, F1. He has history there, but is persuaded back into the top tier by his old mate and Apex team boss Ruben (Javier Bardem) to come in and rescue their floundering season. Offer some experience, to the team and their other driver, Joshua (Damson Idris). The team, Joshua, the car, all have potential, but they can’t unlock it and careers are on the line. They don’t like Sonny rocking up with his sunglasses and rock n roll swagger like he’s, well, Brad Pitt! But he’s clearly what they need. It’s very corny, but knowingly so. F1 is a dense sport that’s not easy to penetrate by the casual viewer, but this drawers you in and helps any novice viewer with some heavy background information courtesy of the race commentary. There are nuggets for F1 fans though. Some of that commentary comes from Martin Brundle and Crofty, who of course delivers his signature line. Reporter, Will Buxton turns up (of course he does), Gunther Steiner leans out of a pit wall chair, but doesn’t swear, Toto Wolff actually has a line and even Lewis Hamilton (who gets a producer credit) features by way of his dog, Roscoe. Much of the paddock action is shot on real race weekends, so there’s plenty of quick cameos from real drivers too, team bosses and the general glitterarty of F1. It makes this film part action movie, part advert for the sport. Not to mention a glut of product placement sponsorship. You can decide for yourself how the percentages break down, but putting Sonny and Joshua on the grid with Hamilton, Verstappen, Sainz, it gives this instant credibility. It’s not easy to see where the real race action meets the fake, the blend is brilliant. It doesn’t make the mistake of making it look easy either. Apex are the underdogs. Sonny is not the quick fix. This is a two and a half hour film though and yes, it paces itself really well. There’s a good cast of characters here. Most notable, Technical Director, Kate (Kerry Condon) who’s frustrated with Sonny’s unconventional methods, but is the first to see that he has something. Yes it’s a crazy dramatically overblown rollercoaster ride. Yes it’s probably too surface for the hardcore race fans. Yes it’s probably half an hour too long. Yes Pitt carries it. Yes Hans Zimmer’s score is full on. It’s bloody good fun though. Bardem and Condon both deliver too. It’s better than it has any right to be. In fact it’s bloody marvellous. In a world that some days feels like it’s falling to pieces. Thank god for film, for sport, for joyous escapism. Expectations met and then some.

8/10