F1
The Movie

Pitt drove a purpose-built Formula 2-specification car — not a current Formula 1 car — that was constructed specifically for the production. The car was fitted with IMAX cameras and designed to be safely operated at racing speeds by a non-professional driver who had undergone extensive training. Pitt trained with professional racing instructors for over a year before shooting began, and his car was driven at actual F1 circuits during real race weekends, running on track during sessions when the track was not in active race use. Certain shots involving the most extreme cornering speeds and the specific technical demands of an F1 car were achieved using professional racing drivers, but the majority of the cockpit footage — and all scenes where Pitt's face is clearly visible at speed — were achieved with Pitt actually driving.

No prior knowledge of Formula 1 is required. The film is structured so that its technical and sporting elements are introduced through Sonny's mentorship of Joshua — the veteran explaining the sport to his young partner functions as a natural mechanism for introducing the audience to everything it needs to know. The emotional core of the film — an ageing man confronting his limits, a young man discovering his — is universal. That said, viewers who follow F1 will find an additional layer of authenticity and in-joke pleasure that casual viewers will miss: real teams, real race formats, and the specific social dynamics of the modern paddock are rendered with exceptional fidelity.

The film features appearances by a significant number of current Formula 1 drivers, who appear as themselves competing in the races around the fictional APEX team's car. The extent of individual drivers' appearances varies — some have substantial speaking roles in paddock scenes, others appear primarily in race footage and in-car radio sequences. Formula 1 granted the production unprecedented access, and the driver appearances give the film's race sequences a legitimacy that no casting of acting talent could replicate. Specific names are best discovered in the film itself; the surprise of recognising them in context is part of the pleasure for F1 fans.

Rush (2013) remains the gold standard of Formula 1 drama — Ron Howard's Hunt-Lauda rivalry film is a masterclass of character-driven sporting narrative, and nothing in F1 surpasses it as a human drama. What F1 does that no previous racing film has managed is the technical and physical representation of the sport itself: the cockpit footage, the race environment authenticity, and the sheer kinetic experience of IMAX racing sequences are categorically beyond what any prior film achieved. If Rush is the better film about Formula 1 drivers as people, F1 is the better film about Formula 1 as a physical, sensory, dangerous experience. Both are worth your time.