F1 (2025) Warner Bros./Drama RT: 156 minutes Rated PG-13 (strong language and action) Director: Joseph Kosinski Screenplay: Ehren Kruger Music: Hans Zimmer Cinematography: Claudio Miranda Release date: June 27, 2025 (US) Cast: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, Javier Bardem, Kim Bodina, Shea Whigham, Will Merrick, Joseph Balderrama, Sarah Niles, Samson Kayo, Abdul Salis, Callie Cooke.
Rating: ** ½
Follow my line of thought. Three years ago, director Joseph Kosinski directed Top Gun: Maverick, a belated sequel that was actually better than the original. In it, Tom Cruise’s character, older and wiser, trains a bunch of young pilots including one that reminds him of his cocky younger self. In F1, Brad Pitt (Ocean’s Eleven) plays Sonny Hayes, a veteran race car driver who mentors a cocky young driver (Idris, Snowfall) who reminds him of his younger self. I found myself wondering if F1 started out as a belated sequel to Days of Thunder (celebrating its 35th anniversary today coincidentally). Like DOT, it’s produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. The late Tony Scott directed both DOT and the original Top Gun. Writer Ehren Kruger also helped pen Top Gun: Maverick. It could be that Kosinski presented TC with a script and the actor turned it down forcing Kosinski and Kruger to retool it. Again, this is just a theory, but it kinds of tracks (pun maybe intended).
Three decades after a crash ended his Formula One career, Sonny’s former teammate Ruben (Bardem, No Country for Old Men) brings him back into the fold. Now a team owner, he needs his old friend’s help. His team APX hasn’t won a single race this year. If that doesn’t change, Ruben will be fired.
Sonny reluctantly agrees to be second driver to Joshua Pearce, a hotshot rookie who resents being told what to do by a has-been who never really was. He’s not the only problem with APX. The pit crew is slow and clumsy. Their ramshackle car can’t compete with the likes of Ferrari and McLaren. Timing is a factor as well. There are only nine races left to go. That doesn’t leave Sonny much time to whip the team into shape and lead them to victory.
Although equally cocky, Joshua couldn’t be more different from Sonny. The older, wiser driver isn’t in it for the money or the glory; it’s for the love of the sport. Joshua, definitely a product of the social media age, is more interested in likes and showboating for the cameras. Their rivalry, both on and off the track, is about position. Eventually, they start to work together instead of against each other.
At 156 minutes, F1 runs longer than it needs to. There are definitely pacing issues. It rips and roars during the race sequences, but sputters when off the track. It introduces story threads that ultimately aren’t developed. It’s brought up a few times that Sonny had gambling issues in the past, but it’s never explored in a meaningful way, not even when the team competes in Las Vegas. I would have liked to know a little more about Jodie (Cooke), a pit crew member who has to try harder than everyone because she’s female. In its defense, F1 is never boring. That’s a positive.
Pitt does a good job as Sonny, a laid back sort who doesn’t take himself too seriously. Racing is a different story. He wants to win mainly because this is his last shot at it. To do that, changes must be made. One of them is the car. What’s needed is a combat-type vehicle. He tasks tech director Kate McKenna (Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin) with doing a complete overhaul. Would it surprise you to learn she later becomes his romantic interest? I didn’t think so.
Idris is also very good as the conceited rookie who only listens to his mother (Niles, Beautiful People). The dynamics between him and Pitt are dynamite. Joshua doesn’t respect the older man; Sonny couldn’t care less. He just wants to make the kid the best driver he can be. Condon does what she can with her one-dimensional character. Bardem is great as the owner who understands that neither he nor Sonny are getting any younger. Tobias Menzies (The Crown) is sufficiently smarmy as an investor with a not-so-secret agenda.
F1 is essentially a collection of clichés broken up by some of the best race sequences I’ve seen in a long time. Due in equal parts to tight editing (Stephen Mirrione) and sharp cinematography (Claudio Miranda), not to mention an exciting score by Hans Zimmer, F1 is mighty impressive to look at. It stumbles dramatically, but never stalls out altogether. It’s mostly high-octane entertainment.
