F1 The Movie - Formula Fantastic

Let me begin by saying that I have never watched an entire F1 race on TV let alone witnessed it live, nor do I know anything about the sport, except that an exceptionally skilled but certifiably insane set of drivers hurtle at mind numbing speeds on roads and tracks to vie to be called the fastest in the world. I am a bit of an adrenaline junkie though and have tried my hand at tandem paragliding by hurtling off a cliff in Switzerland, scuba diving in Hawaii, parasailing in Mexico and whitewater rafting in Wyoming. And going on a roller coaster in anything but the first seat right in front is "humari shaan ke khilaaf hai".

All this is to preface that I went to watch F1 the Movie with no preconceived expectations or knowledge except that it would be about Formula One racing and should be a thrill ride. And boy it was. Starring the evergreen Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes, a washed up driver given a shot at redemption (what the heck is it with these 60+ year old leading men like Pitt and Tom Cruise and their boyish charm and good looks way beyond any right to be so), and directed by Joseph Kosinski who directed Cruise in Top Gun : Maverick (2022), F1 (I won't keep adding the "The movie" suffix) is a helluva ride.

Despite its running time of 2hr 35mins, it never drags. It has wit, charm, swagger and an emotional heft thanks to a superb supporting cast. Javier Bardem playing friend and F1 team APXGP owner Ruben Cervantes, is nothing like his chilling characters Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men (2007) and Raoul Silva in the James Bond movie Skyfall (2012). Here he is warm, charming and funny. Damson Idris is the cocky rookie Joshua Pearce who is reluctantly teamed up with Pitt's Hayes, Tobias Menzies, best known for playing Prince Phillip in Seasons 3 and 4 of Netflix's show The Crown (2019-20), is Peter Banning the smarmy corporate honcho. And finally Kerry Condon who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as the exasperated sister in the superb black Irish comedy The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) as Kate Mckenna, the technical director of the racing team. There's just something about an Irish accent that is soothing to the ear. The pulse pounding background score of the inimitable Hans Zimmer (Inception, The Dark Knight trilogy) adds to the atmosphere.

The film starts with Hayes leading a nomadic life having been consigned to the racing wilderness after a horrific crash 30 years back. Ruben offers him a chance at a comeback by being second driver in his failing F1 team which has to win at least one of the remaining 9 Grand Prix races in order to not be sold off. He is paired with Joshua who obviously resents being paired with an oldie, although of course calling Pitt old is like calling the Taj Mahal old. There's more than age to those chiseled marble looks and he brings his experience and maturity and guile to the team. The movie does have some familiar beats to it as any comeback story and oil and water duo tale does, but it roars and purrs like a well oiled machine. It was shot at the real Grand Prix locations during the 2023 F1 season from Britain to Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Japan, Mexico, Belgium, Las Vegas and finally Abu Dhabi.

Like he did with Tom Cruise in Top Gun : Maverick, Kosinski knows the audience's need for speed and obviously taps into in his greatest asset which is Pitt's twinkly eyed charisma and his acting chops. Those assets have stood him in good stead for more than 30 years in movies as varied as Thelma & Louise (1991) to Seven (1997) to Ocean's Eleven (2001) to his Academy Award winning role in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). Unlike our Bollywood heroes who refuse to play their age or even remotely acknowledge it, with a couple of notable exceptions like Aamir Khan, Hollywood A-listers don't harbor any such delusions or vanity in their role selection. Now that's a winning number one formula.

June 29, 2025