For many of its tens of millions of followers around the world, Formula 1 doesn’t need Hollywood – it is Hollywood. The sport inherently possesses all the ingredients of a big-budget blockbuster: glamorous people performing extraordinary feats, exotic locations, drama, intrigue, heroes… even a villain or two.
Perhaps that’s why no one has attempted to capture the high-octane excitement of F1 on the silver screen, until now. F1: The Movie takes viewers into the paddock and onto the racetrack, thanks to cutting-edge filming techniques and unprecedented access to the teams and personnel.
Surpassing $550 million at the global box office, the film is not only the highest-grossing original feature of 2025, it is Brad Pitt’s highest-grossing feature to date. F1: The Movie has also overtaken Ridley Scott’s Napoleon (2023) Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) and become Apple Studios' highest-grossing movie to date.
The film is centered around the fictional APXGP team, languishing at the back of the grid with a slow car, rookie driver Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) and a looming deadline for debt-laden team owner Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem). They need to win one of the remaining nine grands prix or the board of investors will sell the team.
Ruben turns to veteran racing driver Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), who was his teammate at Lotus F1 in the early 1990s. Sonny was the next big thing, expected to take the fight to Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher – until injuries sustained in an accident at the 1993 Spanish Grand Prix ended his F1 dream.
After a decade away from the sport, Sonny returned as a journeyman ace-for-hire, a nomad in search of the next drive and the next pay cheque. Following a class win at the 24 Hours of Daytona, Ruben catches up with Sonny and tries to convince him that success at the highest level is still within his grasp.
Real-world racing elements
The groundbreaking film was directed by Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy, Oblivion, Top Gun: Maverick, Tron: Legacy, Oblivion) and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun: Maverick, Days of Thunder, Pearl Harbor, Pirates of the Caribbean).
To accurately portray such a passionately followed sport, authenticity was key, and seven-time F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton’s role as producer and advisor was crucial.
“Lewis was instrumental in not only the technical aspects obviously, but in the real kind of formulative stage of this movie, formulating this narrative,” says Joseph. “We couldn’t have made this film without him.”
One of the most impressive aspects of F1: The Movie is the blurring of reality and make-believe. While APXGP is a fictional team, filming was conducted throughout the 2023 and 2024 F1 seasons at actual race weekends. Brad and Damson received extensive training to drive the cars – custom-made machines based on Dallara Formula 2 cars with F1 bodywork – at race pace. To add yet another layer of realism, Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team drivers and other personnel make cameos throughout the movie, while David Croft and Martin Brundle (the Sky F1 commentary team) were used instead of voice actors.