I’ve been obsessed with sports movie my entire life. I love them and take them very seriously. That’s why I also hold them to a very high standard. So I promise I do not say this lightly: F1 is one of the best sports movies I have ever seen.
F1 is like The Natural combined with Rush, the highest praise I could possibly give it. The movie stars Brad Pitt as over-the-hill Sonny Hayes. He was a Formula 1 prodigy who decades earlier walked away from the world’s greatest racing circuit after a brutal crash. Thirty years later, his old friend and former racing teammate, Javier Bardem’s Ruben Cervantes, comes calling for “the greatest that never was.” Sonny has been living as a talented, nomadic racer who refuses to join a team and lives in his van. Ruben turns to him as his desperate final attempt to save his Formula 1 team, Expensify APX. If Ruben can’t get a win in the final nine races of the season, he’s out.
In F1, Ruben already has a number one driver, Damson Idris’ Joshua Pearce. He’s a talented young man more worried about his public image than being the best in the world, and he needs a little direction. APX also employs Formula 1’s only woman technical director, Kerry Condon’s Kate McKenna. Like everyone else, she’s out to prove she belongs, but it’s not clear the obstinate Sonny is the miracle they all need. He’s not ready to be a team player any more than Joshua is ready to learn from him.
Yes, F1 is exactly what it sounds like, a bunch of classic sports movie tropes on a race track. And it’s amazing from start to finish. The difference between “trite” and “trope” is often a fine one, but F1 doesn’t come close to ever feeling cliché. It all feels authentic and unpredictable. Despite hitting so many classic sports movie beats, at no point was I ever sure what was going to happen. Every race feels like anyone can win or lose it, even though the bouts are taking place in a scripted story. That’s also why no character feels safe at any point in the film. Formula 1 is impossibly fast and dangerous, and F1 fully captures that.
F1 is also laugh-out-loud funny at times, thanks to a crisp script where people talk and act like real people. Sonny is a wise and ingenuous pain in the ass who is wonderfully acerbic. His humor balances perfectly with the anger, intensity, and sadness that burdens so many characters in this movie. This is a wildly entertaining film that looks like it cost a billion dollars thanks to its incredible racing sequences, yet always feels grounded because of its characters. F1 is not “just” a sports movie. It’s a very human story surrounded by incredible spectacle, everything you’d want from a summer blockbuster.
The film also works so well because its two non-Oscar-winning stars, Idris and Condon, go toe-to-toe with Pitt and Bardem the entire time. Those two are both great and charismatic in all the ways you’d expect, especially Pitt, who is absolutely flawless as the very flawed Sonny. But the movie wouldn’t be as great if Idris and Condon weren’t equally phenomenal. It’s impossible to walk away from F1 without thinking that both should be huge stars themselves.
It’s also impossible to walk away without thinking how lucky we all are that Hans Zimmer exists at the same time we’re alive. F1 has an amazing score that elevates everything. It also features an incredible soundtrack with songs from some of the best bands in the world. F1 is so good and does such a good job earning everything it does that it uses a Queen song without feeling lazy. More than that, its use is perfect. I didn’t even think it was possible to use a Queen song like that anymore!
Before the movie started, I was a little worried about F1’s lengthy runtime of 156 minutes. That’s a lot of racing. But during the last 30, my heart was racing as hard as one of APX’s cars. And when it ended, I wanted them to restart it, so I didn’t have to leave the immersive world of F1. This movie makes you feel as though you’re really traveling the world with a real Formula 1 operation. (I’m not a racing fan, so I can’t attest to the accuracy of the movie. But seven-time champion and legend Lewis Hamilton is a producer on the film who also appears in it, so I wouldn’t worry about accuracy.)
I love sports movies, but usually they leave me feeling disappointed. Few modern entries in the genre are even good, let alone great. But I can’t wait to see F1 again on the biggest IMAX screen I can because it’s more than a great sports movie. It’s one of the best I’ve ever seen.
⭐ (5 of 5)
F1 drives into theaters and IMAX in the U.S on June 27, 2025.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist who wanted to run through a brick wall after seeing F1. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
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This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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