Motorsport fans are about to get a high-octane dose of cinema with F1 — the upcoming highly-anticipated film that’s already being hailed as one of the most ambitious racing movies ever made.
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Directed by Top Gun: Maverick’s Joseph Kosinski, F1 stars Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes, a retired Formula 1 driver who returns to the sport to race for a fictional team called APXGP (pronounced “apex”).
While kicking off the press tour in Mexico City, Pitt called the project “a dream come true”, revealing that he’d been trying to make a racing film for decades.
Kosinski’s vision was clear from the beginning: to make the most immersive and realistic racing film ever made. That meant no faking it — Pitt and Idris had to actually learn how to drive.
That realism extended beyond just learning how to drive. Pitt and the production team — with major help from seven-time world champion and executive producer Lewis Hamilton — gained access to the inner workings of F1, even sitting in on drivers’ meetings to ensure authenticity.
Pitt said it was important to earn the respect of the sport and its athletes. “We had to go in and just try to earn their trust, let them know how much we respect the sport, how much we want to get it right, and how much we want to include them,” he shared.
The cars themselves posed another challenge. Pitt described the Formula 1 steering wheel as “extreme”, filled with too many buttons to count.
He added that the precision and speed required from F1 drivers was “staggering”, especially considering how tightly packed the grid is during races.
A huge part of the film’s authenticity comes from Hamilton’s input — both creatively and technically. “We would have meetings with him — some 12-hour meetings — as we developed the story and the script,” Pitt said.
F1 hits Australian cinemas on June 26, 2025 and judging by the scale, the access, and the passion behind it, it’s set to become a defining moment in motorsport cinema.