The crowd cheers and pushes to their feet to get a view of the cars whizzing by. They zoom past at blistering speeds, reaching up to 200 miles per hour. Driver Sonny Hayes barrels down the racetrack. Will he get first place and obtain his long-lost dream of winning a Formula 1 race?

“F1 The Movie” premiered on June 16, 2025, and follows the character Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) as he returns to F1 after 30 years. He joins the team APXGP to help save it from being sold by its investors due to their low ranking. Sonny battles with his rookie teammate Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) due to his different racing choices, which Pearce and the team think are damaging their ranking. In all, “F1 The Movie” embodies every generic racing movie.

A frustrating factor of this film is the inaccuracy of its depiction of Formula 1 rules. One strategy Hayes uses during the course of the film is to crash on purpose to gain advantages for his team. Hayes does this at least three times in a row to get a better ranking. In reality, Hayes would have been suspended from racing if he continued that type of behavior. For an F1 fan, it’s exasperating to watch a film about a sport you love, and yet see it portrayed so differently from what it actually is.

The biggest problem I had with this movie was with its depiction of technical engineer, Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon). There has never been a female technical director in the F1 industry, so naturally, this character should have been an aspect to celebrate. Except, they chose to initiate a romantic relationship between McKenna and Hayes.

This might not seem like a big issue initially, but in making this decision, the film could actually impact the future of women in big roles in F1 teams. The idea that women are unprofessional in the workplace and highly influenced by their emotions isn’t new, and it is only reinforced with this choice.

To make matters worse, McKenna and Hayes (spoiler alert!) don’t even end up together by the end of the movie. Not only is this plot point detrimental, but it is also entirely irrelevant and unnecessary.

As a whole, “F1 The Movie” is the epitome of the average car movie. The main character returns to the scene from his dramatic past as a racer (Sonny returned to F1 racing after his career-ending injury years ago) and makes waves with his creative and new performances (Sonny drives differently than the rest of the drivers because his practices are from many years ago). The protagonist has issues with his teammate, but then works them out (Sonny and Pearce’s tense relationship before turning into a friendship) and “gets the girl” (Sonny gets into a relationship with McKenna by the end of the movie). Then there’s a 3rd quarter twist (a traitor trying to sell out the team), but the protagonist miraculously wins first place and saves the team from destruction (Sonny did just so by winning the race-big shocker). There’s no second-guessing; we all knew there would be a happy ending from the beginning of the movie.

Aside from these cons—no matter how problematic they are—“F1 The Movie” does have some good qualities. In terms of the actual racing, Pitt and Idris trained for months to drive Formula 1 cars with modifications. They also filmed during the F1 season, using real F1 footage, which led to Formula 1 advancing its own cameras.

In addition to working with Formula 1, the cast also worked with some of the F1 drivers. It was exciting to see actual drivers like Lando Norris show up on screen, even if they only appear for a few moments. However, the anti-climactic, predictable plot and overall lack of creativity are disappointing.

While “F1 The Movie” is full of epic racing scenes and camera work, there is nothing about it that makes it significant or outstanding. If you’re interested in a simple movie that will make you say, “It’s okay,” then this is the movie for you. This could only be described as an average “car” film, and honestly, the “Cars” franchise is probably more unique and interesting.