F1 The Movie news: Five things we learned from the Brad Pitt blockbuster

By now, everyone has seen some form of advertisement for the F1 movie. From billboards to YouTube ads, it is inescapable. 

During the Silverstone weekend, Sports News Blitz writer Madison Stoneman headed to the cinema to check it out. Here are five important elements she noticed.

Produced by Lewis Hamilton

What makes this film great for any Formula 1 fan is its attention to detail. 

Having a seven-time world champion overseeing the creation of the film allows the story to be as accurate as possible, keeping the audience engaged.

Although some elements of the racing within the film are a bit far-fetched, the majority felt like you were watching a real Grand Prix, creating intense scenes and leaving you on the edge of your seat.

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Representation of women

In recent years, F1 has worked on becoming more inclusive for women through series such as F1 Academy, created by Susie Wolff.

The film is inclusive in the sense that there is a female mechanic with a decent amount of screen time and a female technical director who is praised for being the first of her kind.

On the surface, this may seem progressive. However, as the film continued their worth became devalued. 

The mechanic is shown to be the one who makes a big mistake, causing the team to fail. This scene loses the audience a little, as anyone can make a mistake; it was just odd that they chose the only woman there.

The mistake is also followed up by a subtle sexist comment from Damson Idris’ character.

Kate, the technician director, is portrayed as headstrong and confident in herself. This is empowering until she begins to fall into the main role of a love interest.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, she loses all of her interesting qualities to become obsessed with Brad Pitt’s Sonny Hayes.

This has left fans divided as it was not the representation they expected, but it was good to see women feature in a film about a male-dominated sport.

Driver cameos

What makes this film unique to other Formula 1 films is that real drivers appeared frequently in racing scenes. 

As an audience member, it is fun to keep an eye out for your favourites appearing around the paddock or on the podium.

It was also fun to see drivers at their old teams, for example, Lewis Hamilton back at Mercedes, as it brought a sense of nostalgia.

The creators of the film made an effort to show all the “bigger” names in F1 rather than those who spend a lot of time at the back of the grid, despite the fact that the made-up team, ‘Apex’, was usually a backmarker in the film.

Filmed during previous seasons

Continuing on from the last point, the movie was being filmed predominantly during the 2023 season. 

This helped the audience connect with the story a little more as we sort of watched it play out.

The fictional team had its own spot on the pit wall and featured during national anthems so it felt almost as if the eleventh team belonged on the grid.

This allowed fans to settle into the story with a lot more ease as we already felt like we knew the team and they had been on the grid for years.

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Familiar Scenarios

A giant part of the film was obviously the action scenes. Though the film felt very Hollywood at times, a lot of the racing felt familiar. 

For example, Damson Idris’ Joshua Pearce’s crash felt similar to Romain Grosjean’s back in 2020.

The car setting on fire and Joshua suffering with burnt hands felt very familiar which made the film feel more realistic.  

Another aspect of the film that was recognisable was the team-mate rivalry. The main story follows the fact that Sonny Hayes is an older driver whilst Joshua Pearce is a new rising talent. 

This reminds us of the 2018 season, where Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo had a very public rivalry, resulting in the cars contacting each other a number of times.

Red Bull had signed Verstappen as a fresh face to F1, who eventually dominated the sport, whilst Ricciardo was a more experienced driver whose career was beginning to decline. 

Featuring stories that have happened in recent years helps us feel more connected, as we can remember the incidents vividly..

The F1 movie was released on June 25, 2025, in cinemas.

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