F1: The Movie (2025) is directed by Joseph Kosinski, who also wrote the screenplay alongside Ehren Kruger. It stars Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem, Tobias Menzies, Kim Bodina, Sarah Niles, Shea Whigham, Will Merrick, Joseph Balderrama, Abdul Salis, Callie Cook, Samson Kayo, Simon Kunz, Liz Kingsman, Ramona Von Pusch, and Luciano Bacheta. 

The film follows Sonny Hayes (Pitt), a legendary driver who is convinced by his friend, former teammate, and current F1 club owner, Ruben Cervantes (Bardem), to come out of retirement and help them to win at least one race – a win that will stop investors from forcing a sale of the team. Once there, Sonny is forced to abandon his bad-boy antics and become a true team player, a role that requires him to mentor the team’s hotshot rookie driver, Joshua Pearce (Idris). Unfortunately, their oddly similar personalities clash, and the team falls even further into the gutter. When Sonny develops a romantic relationship with Kate McKenna (Condon), one of the team’s lead engineers, she rekindles his love for the sport, bringing a much-needed creativity to the team’s approach. Strategically turning left when the other teams turn right, their newfound success catches the eyes of fans and investors alike, but it all means jack if they can’t pull off a win. Approaching the end of the season, Sonny, Pearce, and the pit crew realize they need a miracle, but in a complex sport like Formula 1 racing, miracles are almost unheard of. 

Even though the script is filled with countless sports movie clichés and cheesy, eye-roll-worthy dialogue, Pitt and Idris display a level of charismatic, scene-stealing star power that makes these moments not just palatable but genuinely fun. For example, there are even moments when the characters will deliver an absurdly clichéd line of dialogue, but bookend it with a literal wink and nod. These kinds of cliches are considered as such because they’ve been proven to work time and time again. Most audiences enjoy these cliches, but they don’t want a movie that treats them like they’re stupid and thinks they don’t see what’s going on. F1 is aware of its countless cliches and isn’t afraid to bring attention to them, knowing that it has more to offer. It also isn’t afraid to laugh at its chosen cliches, but never treats them as such a joke that it feels like a farce. It toes a line that allows the audience to surrender to the cliches when they work, but also laugh when they don’t — but never laugh at the film, only along with it. 

The supporting cast is also strong, which feels necessary in a film of this magnitude. No matter how good Pitt and Idris are, their characters alone can’t justify the nearly 3-hour runtime. Thankfully, the secondary characters are all likable and distinct without feeling like caricatures. Kerry Condon’s Kate displays an oddly compelling sweetness that draws the viewer in, but she also has fantastic chemistry with Brad Pitt. Kate and Sonny are two very different people who eventually fall in love, a typical romance cliché that often results in forced chemistry. F1 sidesteps this by showing that, although their experiences and choices differ, their temperaments are mostly very similar. Their differences complement one another, a common dynamic in romantic relationships. Still, it’s something that can’t work if they’re unable to believably converse or spend time in the same room with one another. In other words, there’s a fine line between two people who hate each other and two people who display a loving “push and pull” dynamic.  In their healthiest form, distinct differences are one of the hallmarks of a strong, attraction-fueled romantic relationship. If that weren’t true, we’d all be making out with a mirror. When the two are together, Sonny tones down his recklessness while Kate becomes noticeably more confident.

Bardem is also great as the team’s owner, Ruben Cervantes. I appreciate that, unlike most characters of this archetype, he’s not presented as the big, bad rich guy who’s unreasonable and only cares about how his team’s performance will affect him financially. Instead, he’s a true fan and friend that the script uses for some natural, and therefore effective, comedic relief. There’s a large portion of the film where it’s unclear if Sonny even cares about winning, so without Ruben and the fact that he’s so likable, the viewer also wouldn’t have a reason to care about it. We like Ruben and don’t want to see him lose the team – he’s the epitome of what fans want from their team’s owner in any sport, let alone Formula 1. Money is a factor for him, but it’s not about how much he makes; it’s more about how much he’s able to spend on the team without ruining himself in the process. Where many see it as a business first and foremost, he sees it as something more akin to a kind of responsibility. 

Clocking in at nearly 3 hours, the film feels absurdly long. This allows for the proper focus on its various supporting characters, but also leaves room for extended, edge-of-your-seat racing sequences that are possibly the best of their kind. Unfortunately, there’s so much racing that it begins to lose its luster. This results in the climax, which easily holds the highest stakes, being arguably the least exciting race because, by that point, it’s easy to become desensitized. The story is also far too familiar and basic, stretching out the typical beats of an underdog sports movie and applying them to a film that’s nearly an hour longer than what they can support. There just isn’t enough substance on a story level to justify such length. This goes so far that the script uses the same cliches twice, which is essentially like using them a third time, but in a way, worse. 

Overall, this is a sports movie you’ve seen countless times before when it comes to story, but ultimately transcends these issues with its multiple jaw-dropping racing sequences that genuinely make you feel like you’re sitting in the driver’s seat. It’s a display of modern movie technology at its absolute best, finding the perfect marriage between sight and sound that is the crux of immersive and transportive filmmaking. The script, although cursed with a forgettable story, still succeeds in a few key ways, the biggest being the various complex dynamics between its characters, which lead to countless entertaining interactions. Pitt and Idris are one of the most potent onscreen duos this year, and in combination with the many jaw-dropping racing scenes led by director Joseph Kosinski, F1 feels poised to be the blockbuster of the summer. Similar to Kosinski’s previous directorial effort, Top Gun: Maverick (2022), this film will appeal to most demographics equally, regardless of individual taste. It’s not perfect and isn’t particularly deep or meaningful, occasionally feeling like a costly advertisement for the brand. The story is also a mixed bag, but one thing is sure: you’ll probably have an urge to drive dangerously fast on your way home from the theater. B