When I saw F1’s runtime of 155 minutes, I braced myself for a long ride. Turns out, it moves almost as fast as the cars it’s obsessed with. Joseph Kosinski’s latest is all polish and precision is a pure adrenaline shot of engineering, sound, and speed — even if the story under the hood is a little lightweight.
Brad Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a once-great Formula 1 driver whose career ended in a near-fatal crash back in the ’90s. These days, he’s a nomad — still racing here and there, but mostly chasing ghosts of his glory days. When a former teammate (Javier Bardem) asks him to help revive his struggling ApexGP team, Sonny reluctantly gets back behind the wheel. There’s also a young hotshot, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), all ego and no humility — basically a mirror of Sonny’s younger self. Together, they try to steer Apex back from the brink, surrounded by a pit crew of capable but lightly sketched side characters.
The plot is predictable — you’ll see every turn coming: the ego clashes, the late-night garage soul-searching, the “one last race” redemption arc. It’s not deep, but it’s earnest, and it knows what kind of movie it wants to be. I’m not saying these are bad things, sometimes simple is better if you can hit all the right turns — F1 does that.
Where F1 absolutely dominates is in the racing. The realism is stunning — Kosinski and his team had unprecedented access to F1 circuits, drivers, and technology, and it shows. The camera work feels like it’s welded to the cars, with shots that practically vibrate off the screen. You can feel the tension in every gear shift and tire squeal. This is, without question, one of the best-looking and best-sounding racing movies ever made. Hans Zimmer’s score does a lot of heavy lifting, switching between sleek electronic pulses during the races and more classical flourishes for the human drama. A few of the needle-drop songs land awkwardly (some are too on-the-nose), but the energy rarely dips. If anything, the commentary segments and wall-to-wall product placement get more distracting than they should — it starts to feel like you’re watching a live ESPN broadcast.
Visually, the UHD release is a stunner. The 4K HDR presentation shines with glossy paint jobs, glowing brake rotors, track reflections, and the sterile perfection of the Apex garage look razor-sharp. It’s demo material for anyone who wants to show off their home theater setup.
I did want the movie to have a little more soul, something like what I felt watching Ford v Ferrari managing to balance the thrill of racing with real emotional weight. F1 doesn’t quite hit that gear, but it’s still a must-watch film. It’s a spectacle first, a story second and that’s okay — as long as you know what you’re signing up for. F1 might not redefine the racing movie, but it’s a hell of a good time.
Are you a fan of this movie? Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Cheers,
Matt.
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