F1 on the Big Screen: A Fan’s First Impressions

Yesterday I had the chance to watch the F1 movie at my local theater and as it's only been a few days since the European premiere took place, I decided to write a review of the movie and how I feel about it as a F1 fan.

(Spoiler alert, skip this part if you plan on watching the movie)

In short, the movie tells the tale of Sonny Hayes, a former F1 driver who competed in the 90s and was considered to be one of the up and coming talents at the time but after a devastating crash, he had to retire. A few decades later, his friend Ruben asks him to come out of retirement and help his struggling team, APX GP save itself from going out of business. During the action, which takes place at nine grand prix events across what were in real life the 2023 and 2024 seasons, Sonny and his rookie teammate Joshua overcome team infighting and learn that in spite of everything that separates them, they are more similar than they think and over the course of the races, improve the team's results to the point where they manage to win the last race, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, after an impressive team effort and a last lap sacrifice by Joshua.

From the perspective of a motorsport fan, the movie itself tried to combine both racing with dramatism surrounding the team dynamics, as it can be seen from the sequences when clauses and lawsuits came in play with Sonny's almost forced retirement stopped only by a last minute lawsuit due to payment disputes. In addition, the conflicts between the teammates reach a boiling point after the Italian Grand Prix, when Sonny went on a destructive and very risky strategy to help Joshua earn a win, only to see him not trusting him and injuring himself very badly in the process.

Probably one of the things I enjoyed the most about the movie was the way various social causes were inserted, and my intuition says that Lewis Hamilton's role here as one of the producers was instrumental, given his background as the first (and after almost 20 years since he debuted, still the only) black F1 driver. APX GP's technical director, Kate wasn't trusted by too many people from the team, but Sonny's involvement (and later on, the development of a romantic relationship as it usually happens in many Hollywood movies) helped her overcome her doubts and provide an instrumental role in APX GP's later successes.

In terms of racing, while a lot of things were unrealistic in terms of strategy and the track action, I can appreciate the fact that the producers tried to provide a format which makes it easier for a casual fan to understand some of the lesser well known aspects of F1 racing, however the fact that scenes from both 2023 and 2024 were included made the correlation with real life events be strange at times.

Ultimately, while certain aspects have been quite decent about the movie, the plot felt very predictable and it was very easy to know what will happen next, be it the F1 plot, the romantic story involving Sonny and Kate or the character development all main drivers go through.

Overall, I think that it's a decent movie especially if you are more of a casual fan who wants to learn more about motorsport, however you may have to wait for better movies if you are more of a diehard fan.

Rating: All in all, I think it's a 6.5/10 movie, but I think everyone can find enjoyable aspects about it.

Did you catch the film too? I’d love to hear your thoughts too! Was the racing authentic enough for you, or did the drama take over?