F1

Release date (UK): 2025
| Country: US, Australia, Canada |
Running time: 155 min
| Genre: Car Action - Drama - Sport
| Director: Joseph Kosinski
| Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Javier Bardem | BBFC 12A

By Jack Weir

Joseph Kosinski’s F1 is an exhilarating cinematic experience following Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes, an enigmatic former Formula 1 star determined to relive his former glory while mentoring a hot-headed new driver.


In Kosinski’s last blockbuster hit Top Gun: Maverick, audiences were thrust into the cockpits of real fighter jets as they battled it out in the skies. F1 drops the viewer in the driver’s seat of Formula 1 cars driving at breakneck speeds in a masterclass of pure, edge-of-your-seat entertainment. The cinematography is slick and stylish, exhibiting the races in an electrifying spectacle of danger and excitement to the point that you can almost smell the burning rubber.


F1’s sound design is engrossingly realistic, from the external roaring engines of the cars to the internal, near-meditative silence within drivers in moments of peril or extreme concentration. The cast features numerous A-list actors, such as Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Kerry Condon, and Kim Bodnia – all of whom lend their roles complex characterisations and depth. Bardem contributes an especially memorable performance, lending comedic levity to high-stakes drama in his heartwarming bromance with Pitt’s Sonny Hayes.


Kosinski has once again achieved lightning in a bottle with F1, a film best experienced on the IMAX screen. Fans of Formula 1 will see many familiar faces racing in this film, but those unfamiliar with motorsports will be equally enamoured with the sheer entertainment value that Kosinski presents here. F1 has something for everyone, and I would encourage the reader make a ‘Pitt-stop’ at their local cinema to witness the film event of the year.

Jack Weir is a graduate of Edinburgh Napier 
University’s Film BA (Hons) course.