F1

F1 is a very fun and effective popcorn movie. It is kind of two movies in one, although they are relatively seamlessly enmeshed. On the one hand, it’s a traditional underdog sports story, with the struggling fictional Apex racing team the main thrust of the story, and on the other hand, it is about the old veteran training the young gun, similar to the director’s previous feature Top Gun: Maverick. This makes it, in essence, a mishmash of genre formulaic ideas, though the film is able to present them in a way that throws enough little adjustments and subversions that you don’t roll your eyes at how cliche it all is. Ultimately, it isn’t a big surprise when you get to the ending, but I enjoyed the journey getting there well enough that I would rather praise the film’s strengths than fixate on its weaknesses.

One of the things that the film does well, most of the time, is making the events feel grounded in the real world of modern Formula 1. America, for better or worse, dominates the international film market and American motorsports films have largely been about American racing series (Days of Thunder, Ballad of Ricky Bobby) or remain stuck in the 70s (Rush, Ford vs. Ferrari). This means that, much like soccer before Bend It Like Beckham and Goal!, movies about one of the most internationally popular sports were remarkably rare or fringe.

F1, bucking the trend, takes its global/European racing out of the 70s and into the modern age with relative skill. Many of the shocking events of the film, from crashes to unorthodox driver strategies were, seemingly, inspired by real events from Formula 1’s decades of history. The Apex’s training center is actually the McLaren Technology Center and its wind tunnel is Williams’ real wind tunnel. Its mobile office, parc ferme, and pit wall nerve center all look exactly like the real thing. The races were raced, with maybe an exception of two, on actual F1 circuits using modified F2 cars as stand-ins for the Apex team cars, sometimes cleverly digitally inserted into real race footage from F1 seasons of the last 3 or 4 years. This covers everything in this beautiful sheen of authenticity which you don’t necessarily notice, especially if you are not that familiar with Formula 1, but you feel. This movie cares about getting these details right.

Unfortunately, that makes it all the more conspicuous when they do things just to make the plot work. For example, Brad Pitt plays the veteran driver, and much of his antics simply would not fly in modern day Formula 1 and anyone who knows the sport at least to the level of having watched Drive to Survive would know that. The movie somewhat uses the sports’ establishment’s condescension towards a driver of his age and lack of recent experience to explain them excusing, rather than penalizing, his subterfuges but the sport is simply less forgiving about these things, especially after “Crashgate” at the end of the 2000s.

Another strength of the film is the super engaging way it was shot, especially during the races. Grand Prix revolutionized the way fast moving cars were shot forever through a multitude of technical feats that made you feel a part of the action, including mounting cameras to cars as they raced for point of view thrills, which had, for all intents and purposes, never been done before. I don’t think F1 necessarily represents another massive sea-change in filmic language, but it does follow in Grand Prix footsteps with even better ways to make the white knuckle speed of the cars palpable. Smaller, more lightweight cameras than Frankenheimer could have ever imagined while making Grand Prix were mounted not just on the bodies of cars, but behind the drivers, on protective halo pointing backwards, and so on, so that during the simulated race action they could have an unbelievable array of angles from which to see the action. Some of these were also on remotely controlled swivels, so the framing and focus could be changed in real time, creating mindbending camera moves that occur at seemingly breakneck speeds. All together, this creates an intensely immersive experience during the high speed action of each of the key races.

Lastly, I actually enjoyed the character work more than I thought I would. All of the characters are fairly stock, to be fair, but I thought the way they were brought off the page worked for the material. Some moments are a bit corny and on the nose, but often the film’s charm lets them get away with it. Initially, after finishing the film, my only complaint was the character arc for Pitt. It seemed to me that they were setting up some kind of redemption story where he turns his life around, giving up the detached life of a van-dwelling gun-for-hire driver for something more meaningful, be it as a racer or a different, equally important part of a team. When the film didn’t pay that off, I was left scratching my head. However, after some reflection and discussion with others, I talked myself into not just understanding his arc, but thinking it’s actually quite good. He is closer to John Wayne in The Searchers than Rocky in Rocky Balboa. He isn’t there to show to himself, or anyone else, that he’s still got it. He brings a specific philosophy and ethos to racing, a Zen detachment from everything that isn’t the car, the team, and driving the best he can. He makes the team better by getting them to adopt the best aspects of that philosophy. This is made explicit, in some sense, with his pre-race jogging ritual gaining more and more acolytes like he is some kind of racing driver Pied Piper.

And when he is done, the same belief system that keeps him from even touching a trophy means that he won’t stay with a team. For him, it isn’t about that. It can’t be. His backstory, with his crash in Formula 1 as a rising young star and the subsequent journey of self discovery, made it so for him, it was always and only about chasing the pure flow state of driving a vehicle very fast. Like Wayne, he helps build a culture he can’t be a part of, so he must leave. And there is actually something beautiful and poetic, and maybe a little bit sad in the best possible way, about that.

Would Recommend: If you find yourself frequently questioning why Hollywood, despite America’s car obsessed culture, makes so few movies about automotive racing.

Would Not Recommend: If the glitz and drama of the world’s fastest and most famous racing series holds limited appeal for you.