F1 (2025), is a stunning ride

I enjoy watching car racing on the big screen, but to be honest, I know nothing about football and even less about F1 racing. Even so, the new film F1 starring Brad Pitt and directed by Joseph Kosinski intrigued me. I watched it on an IMAX screen and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. This is a standard underdog-beats-the-odds story, and though it didn’t try to reinvent the wheel, it was visually stunning and engaging throughout. Mangoidiots gives it a Ripe.

The story follows Sonny Hayes, played by Brad Pitt, a once-promising F1 driver who is now financially ruined and mentally scarred from his past. His old friend Ruben convinces him to return to the F1 circuit to help save his struggling APX team from ending the season winless. The film is about whether Sonny’s unconventional methods can bring about a turnaround.

The screenplay is straightforward and moves in a linear fashion. There are no big twists or surprises, yet the combination of a solid cast, spectacular visuals, and a consistent emotional thread keeps us invested and rooting for the APX team. As is common in this genre, we get the usual elements: a veteran (Sonny) struggling to gel with a young rookie driver, JP; an unexpected but effective partnership with the team’s car designer Kate McKenna; and the presence of an insider villain causing trouble from within.

Performances were spot on. Brad Pitt, Kerry Condon, and Damson Idris fit their roles perfectly. Sarah Niles, who plays JP’s mother, stood out for me—especially because I remembered her from Ted Lasso, where she played the team’s sports psychologist.

The film also nails the technological side of modern F1 racing. The cars, the pit lane gear, the testing rigs, and the driving simulators all looked so cool and futuristic. I would happily watch a documentary just on that behind-the-scenes world. Judging by the cheers in the theatre for the cameos and references, real-life F1 fans got a lot more out of those moments than I did.