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‘F1: The Movie’ is drawing many moviegoers back to the cinemas, but what do Formula 1 fans think of the film?
In the midst of a thrilling Formula 1 season poised to give fans a new World Champion, much of the racing buzz lately has been directed off the track, with the recent release of F1: The Movie starring Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt.
The film has already become a global box office success, raking in $144 million and earning praise from critics. But a bigger question remains: Has it won over the hearts of real Formula 1 fans?
This question has been at the core of the debates even before the film’s release, especially given that the hype surrounding the project leaned heavily on its promise of authenticity. Over the past few years, the production team was frequently spotted during actual Formula 1 race weekends, as they followed the race calendar to film alongside the real teams and real drivers, blurring the lines between fiction and reality.
Now that the movie is out, it’s time to ask: How accurately does this Hollywood blockbuster capture the world of Formula 1? And what do the fans, as well as the drivers themselves, have to say about it?
Unbelievable visuals
Storylines, tropes, and Hollywood clichés aside, there is one thing that everyone can agree on, and it’s that F1: The Movie certainly delivers on visuals.
The storyline of the movie revolves around two F1 drivers, racing veteran Sonny Hayes, who is played by Brad Pitt, and rookie racer Joshua Pearce, played by Damson Idris, who represent the fictional team APX GP. And what the film does well is it puts the audience in the cockpit of a Formula 1 car in a way that no other racing movie does.
By using real racetracks and with the incredible editing, each racing scene does well to put the watcher in the driver’s seat; you can almost feel the speed and the exhilaration that comes with driving at breakneck speeds (minus the G-force, of course). The visuals feel like an accurate portrayal of what real drivers see.
Even F1 driver Esteban Ocon had to agree: “I’ve never seen such an image and how immersive it is when you are inside the car. Obviously I know it in reality, but in the movie, you can really feel the speed, and the story is super entertaining, which was really fun to watch.”
Getting inside the world of F1
Another thing that F1: The Movie does well is that it stays (somewhat) true to the technicalities of Formula 1.
Unlike many other racing movies, where the action and excitement come largely from nail-biting overtakes and on-track action, the Apple film gives weight to the other technical bits of the sport: the importance of tire strategies, the impact of team orders, using the deployment of the safety car to one’s advantage, and even using the wind tunnels to test cars (fun fact: one scene takes place in Williams’ actual wind tunnel, located in their factory in Oxfordshire).
(If you’re a newbie to Formula 1, don’t worry. The scriptwriters didn’t want to alienate anyone from enjoying even the most technical parts of the storyline, which is why they had real-life F1 commentators David Croft and Martin Brundle explain them in their on-screen commentaries, which was a great way to bridge that gap.)
The production team was able to pull off authenticity in this respect. By gaining access to the teams’ paddocks, the real race tracks, the real drivers, and even real factories — including the McLaren Technology Center in the UK — the film was able to put APX GP and their fictional drivers right in the middle of what feels like a real Formula 1 season.
Plus, longtime F1 fans are sure to love the cameos of their favorite drivers, team principals, and tracks.
Consulting the history books
Spoiler alert: The next few paragraphs contain information about specific scenes in the film.
OG Formula 1 fans — and we’re talking about the fans who lived to see the 80s and 90s eras of the sport — will most likely recognize that the film’s scriptwriters took inspiration from the sport’s history.
Sonny Hayes’s backstory hinges upon an F1 race where he suffers from a horrific crash, which leaves his car torn in half and his body lying in the middle of the race track. The film’s writers lifted this from a true accident, which involved British driver Martin Donnelly. The real accident took place in the 1990 Spanish Grand Prix, and the same thing happened: Donnelly suffered a crash that left him lying in the middle of the track.
F1: The Movie actually used the real footage from Donnelly’s accident (with his permission) to portray Sonny’s backstory as a racer, and it was arguably one of the most jarring scenes of the entire film.
While unsettling, some would argue that it is an important part of the film. While Formula 1 has a lot of glitz and glam, it has dark parts to its history, too, as an inherently dangerous sport. Several drivers have passed away due to on-track accidents, such as the legend Ayrton Senna, and keeping this theme present in the film is a reminder of the dangers of F1.
Questionable: Black flag stunts
Although the film’s creators wanted to make the film as authentic as possible — following the true F1 calendars, using real-life drivers, taking inspiration from real on-track events — some of its credibility went out the window when the main character, Sonny Hayes, started to pull off some rather questionable on-track antics.
In one of the most-talked-about scenes of F1: The Movie, Sonny Hayes intentionally wreaks havoc on the track by lightly damaging other cars and damaging the track to have the safety car deployed so that his teammate could gain an advantage. This is in keeping with Hayes’ risky driving style, but many fans argue that these antics would not go unnoticed in real life. Real penalties would have been employed, and perhaps even a race disqualification.
Though this mirrors a similar real-life incident, known as the Crashgate scandal of 2008, where Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. alleged that he was told to intentionally crash out of the race in order to help his teammate, Fernando Alonso, win the race, this incident resulted in a penalty for the team, whereas APX GP seemed to benefit off these antics unscathed.
Of course, these are narrative choices that were made to create an exciting storyline, and it does contribute to helping non-F1 fans understand that racing is more than just driving fast and overtaking. But it did have some fans shaking their heads, thinking, This would never happen in a real race.
Questionable: The portrayal of female characters
The female characters of the film also drew mixed reviews.
Formula 1 is a male-dominated sport, and though more opportunities for women have opened up in recent years, there is still a long way to go before we can call it an equal sport. This is perhaps why the female lead in F1: The Movie, Kate, drew much attention.
Played by Kerry Condon, Kate is the APX GP technical director, and in the film, is recognized as the first female to hold this position for an F1 team. It was refreshing to see a woman play this integral role in the film, but her love interest with Sonny Hayes drew a lot of flak. Many regard it as an unnecessary side story that did nothing to benefit the overall plot, and some think this was a missed opportunity to provide a more inspirational way to represent women in motorsports.
The verdict?
F1: The Movie is worth watching. If you’re a hardcore F1 fan, you’ll enjoy the incredible visuals and the way the film puts you right in the exciting action of the sport; and if you’re someone who knows nothing about Formula 1, this movie might just make you a racing convert.
And that is arguably the whole point of the movie. Entitled F1: The Movie, it’s really a huge marketing campaign as much as it is a Hollywood blockbuster. It puts the sport in the spotlight in a way that has never been done before, and that could do wonders for growing the already big fanbase of the sport.
Fernando Alonso summed it best while speaking to Motorsport.com: “It is a good thing for our sport, because everyone will [want] to see a Formula 1 race, hopefully, after seeing the movie.
“It’s not a documentary, it’s still a movie, so there were a couple of [inaccuracies], but I would say that nearly all of the movie, in terms of track action, was very original and very representative, so that was a good thing.”
Banner images from F1 on Instagram.