F1 (2025) - ripper car movies

After a career-ending crash 30 years ago, one-time hotshot F1 Lotus team racer Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) is living out of his (albeit very cool) Econoline camper, scratching out a living as a driver-for-hire in all manner of motorsport disciplines.

With a string of well-publicised broken marriages and a prior gambling addiction in his past, Sonny is happy to lay low and live a simple life, until he gets a visit from his old friend, APXGP F1 team owner Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem). Ruben’s team and personal fortune is on the verge of collapse following several poor race seasons, but he manages to lure Sonny back to the F1 paddock in the hope that this veteran underdog will turn the team’s fortunes around.

Sonny’s arrival is met with negativity from an already-jaded APXGP team, including team principal Kaspar Smolinski (Kim Bodnia), chief mechanic Dodge (Abdul Salis), and technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon), who is battling to prove her worth in a male-dominated role.

The most abrasive reception, however, comes from Sonny’s new team-mate, the ambitious rookie Joshua ‘JP’ Pearce (Damson Idris), who is threatened by the older racer’s arrival.

However, the team slowly begins to cohere under Sonny’s tutelage, even if his old-school ways and racing methodologies walk a fine line between learned and risky. Sonny’s influence also reveals a great divide between the new and old hands in terms of mindset, social pressures, and expectations, which soon finds JP mounting his own journey of self discovery.

Sonny’s talents both on and off the track begin to shape a successful season for the team. But with board member Peter Banning (Tobias Menzies) pushing hard to undermine Ruben’s position as team owner and force the sale of APXGP, will the team’s hard work be all for nothing?.

MORE Best motorsport movies

VERDICT: 4.5/5

You don’t need to be a Formula One fan to enjoy F1, as director Joseph Kosinski relentlessly piles on the action and intensity – as you’d expect from the bloke who directed Oblivion and Top Gun: Maverick. That said, the veteran/rookie storyline is shamelessly nicked from the 2001 Sylvester Stallone flick, Driven (SM, Yearbook 2024), to the point of sharing a number of similar subplots; and the F1-based cameos throughout are largely unnecessary and will likely date the film in the future. Still, if you’re after high-octane racing action, F1 will have you glued to the screen from start to finish.

VEHICLES:

1972 Ford Econoline
2023 Mercedes-Benz AMG F1
1990 Lotus 102
2023 Ferrari SF-23
2023 Renault Alpine A523
2023 Aston Martin DBX707
2023 Corvette Z06

DIRECTOR:
Joseph Kosinski

ACTION:
Unbridled Formula One race action, as well as some circuit GT3 and Baja desert racing.

PLOT:
A washed-up Formula One driver comes out of retirement to mentor a rookie and help an old friend save his race team.

AVAILABLE:
Theatres (as of July 2025), streaming (Apple TV+).

COOL FLICK FACT:
Seven-time World Drivers’ Champion Lewis Hamilton was a producer on the film, and also provided driving tuition to both Pitt and Idris.

MORE All car movie reviews