Development of the film began in December 2021 with Pitt, Kosinski, Kruger, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer attached to the project; the latter three had previously collaborated together on Top Gun: Maverick (2022). Supporting cast members were revealed in early 2023, before the start of principal photography at Silverstone that July. Filming also took place during Grand Prix weekends of the 2023 and 2024 World Championships, with the collaboration of the FIA, the governing body of F1. Racing sequences were adapted from the real-life races, with F1 teams and drivers appearing throughout, including Lewis Hamilton, who was also a producer. Hans Zimmer composed the film's score, while numerous artists contributed to its soundtrack.
F1 premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on June 16, 2025, and was released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on June 27. The film received positive reviews from critics and mixed reception from motorsport media. It grossed $623 million worldwide against a $200–300 million budget, becoming the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2025, the highest-grossing auto racing film, the highest-grossing film by Apple Studios and the highest-grossing film of Pitt's career.
Plot
Aging former American Formula One (F1) prodigy Sonny Hayes has spent the last 30 years living as a racer-for-hire, following a career-ending crash at the 1993 Spanish Grand Prix that has left him burdened by the failure to live up to his potential.[c] After winning the 24 Hours of Daytona,[d] he is approached by his former teammate Rubén Cervantes, owner of the struggling APXGP F1 team, who asks him to be their second driver. Rubén explains that unless APXGP wins one of the nine remaining Grands Prix of the season, his investors will sell the team. Sonny reluctantly agrees after Rubén insists that victory will prove he is the "best in the world".
At the Silverstone track, Sonny meets the team, including technical director Kate McKenna and ambitious and arrogant British rookie Joshua Pearce. Joshua fears the failing APXGP could derail his career and is determined to attract interest from another team. Sonny struggles with the modern F1 machinery but quickly diagnoses APXGP's weaknesses. Sonny proposes to Kate that the cars be upgraded with enhanced maneuverability to compensate for their speed disadvantage.
On his return at the British Grand Prix, Sonny and Joshua race against each other rather than cooperating, resulting in both crashing out. Acknowledging the team's need to secure a points finish, Sonny exploits the rules at the Hungarian Grand Prix by deliberately colliding with rivals to trigger safety car periods. This allows Joshua to close the gap to the frontrunners and secure APXGP's first top-ten finish.[e] During the rain-affected Italian Grand Prix, Sonny advises Joshua to remain on slick tires, trading grip for speed and elevating him to second place. Ignoring Sonny's instruction to wait for a straight before overtaking Max Verstappen, Joshua skids off the track, and his car bursts into flames.[f] Although rescued by Sonny, Joshua misses the next three races while recovering, while his mother and the press criticize Sonny's high-risk approach.
After Sonny rises up the ranks in the next few races, an increasingly arrogant and jealous Joshua returns at the Belgian Grand Prix and deliberately forces Sonny into a crash. Afterward, Sonny criticizes him for setting the team back. Seeking to ease tensions, Kate organizes a poker game to highlight their similar backgrounds, after which Sonny and Kate spend the night together. He later admits to her that he races to recapture the rare moments when he feels untouchable.
Following an anonymous tip alleging Kate's car upgrades were illegal,[g] APXGP is forced to remove them, leaving the team at a disadvantage. Frustrated—and realizing he had skipped his ritual of drawing a random playing card—Sonny drives recklessly during the Las Vegas Grand Prix and crashes. While he recovers, Rubén discovers that Sonny's 1993 injuries left him medically unfit for F1, with risks of blindness or death, and fires him for his own safety. APXGP board member Peter Banning then admits to Sonny that he orchestrated both his signing and the anonymous complaint to sabotage the team and force its sale, offering Sonny the role of team principal if he lets APXGP fail. Meanwhile, Joshua begins applying Sonny's racing techniques, admits fault for his earlier crash, and recommits himself to the team over personal glory. Concealing his blurred vision and headaches, Sonny persuades Rubén to let him return, just as the FIA clears Kate and restores her upgrades.
At the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Joshua battles Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc for the lead. After Sonny is caught in a minor crash, the race is red-flagged, allowing APXGP to repair both cars before a three-lap sprint to the finish. On the restart, Sonny overtakes Leclerc and sacrifices his own chance of victory by holding off Hamilton so Joshua can move into first. On the final lap, Hamilton and Joshua collide, clearing the way for Sonny to take his first F1 win and secure APXGP's future. Joshua is offered a seat with Mercedes, but declines. As the team celebrates, Sonny quietly prepares to leave, parting with Joshua on good terms and promising to see Kate soon. Some time later, he lines up for the Baja 1000. When asked what he is racing for, Sonny just laughs.
Kyle Rankin as Cale Kelso, one of Sonny's co-drivers for Chip Hart Racing in the 24 Hours of Daytona
Simone Ashley was cast in an undisclosed role, but her appearance was cut to only a cameo, credited as herself.[10][11] Additionally, Craig Dolby and Duncan Tappy acted as stunt drivers, alongside Bacheta.[12]
Formula One drivers, personnel and others
The film is based on the 2023 Formula One season and was filmed during both the 2023 and 2024 seasons.[13] As a result, many Formula One drivers and personnel appear in the film as themselves. The drivers are as follows, with the teams and achievements they had at the time:[14][15]
In November 2022, Claudio Miranda announced he would be the film's cinematographer.[24] In April 2023, Damson Idris was hired after a lengthy casting process, which included a shortlist of actors driving the car in January 2023.[25]Kerry Condon and Tobias Menzies would join the cast in the following months.[26][27]Sarah Niles and Simone Ashley also joined the cast.[28][10] However, in June 2025, Kosinski revealed that Ashley's role had been cut from the film.[11]
On July 5, 2024, the title F1 was announced. A teaser trailer premiered before the 2024 British Grand Prix.[29] Kruger received sole credit for the film's screenplay, along with story credit with Kosinski. Jez Butterworth, Kara Smith, Aaron Sorkin, and Christopher Storer earned off-screen "Additional Literary Material" credit.[30]
In May 2024, Puck's Matthew Belloni reported the film's budget to be $300 million.[31] Bruckheimer and Kosinski disputed the claim; the former cited rebates and sponsorships as lowering the budget, and the latter said: "I've never had an experience where they were off by this much on a film. I'm not sure where that number came from."[32] In 2025, ahead of the film's theatrical release, some industry sources reported the film's budget to be $200 million, though others still claimed the $300 million figure (Apple would regularly dish out $200 million for its pictures).[33][34][3]
Filming
Principal photography began at Silverstone in July 2023.
In July 2023, principal photography began at the Silverstone Circuit in the United Kingdom, including filming during the British Grand Prix weekend between July 7–9,[39] outside of the official F1 sessions.[40][41][42] The APXGP team had its own garage and motorhome during the weekend and their car was kept on display alongside other F1 cars during the mandatory "show and tell" session before the track action.[43][44] Pitt was present with the actual drivers at the drivers' briefing and he and Idris stood alongside the drivers during the national anthem before the race. Their two cars were placed at the back of the grid with stunt drivers driving a part of the formation lap.[45][43]
Apple designed a custom onboard camera for the car based on iPhone and powered by its A-seriessystem on a chip.[46] The camera technology used for the fast-paced shots had evolved since Top Gun: Maverick.[47][48] With help from Sony,[37] the cameras were shrunk to about a quarter of the size of those from Maverick such that up to four cameras could be set up onto the cars at a time, with minimal effect to weight.[48] The camera bodies and RF transmitters were stashed in the floor of the cars.[38]Panavision also designed a special remote control that allowed the cameras on the cars to create panning movements.[48]
Speaking with former F1 driver and Sky Sports F1 pundit Martin Brundle at the 2023 British Grand Prix, Pitt confirmed Javier Bardem would star.[53] Later that month, ESPN reported that the film was titled Apex, but later retracted this claim.[54]
The week after filming had started at the British Grand Prix, the SAG-AFTRA strike began, resulting in the lead actors not being available and a reduced crew consisting of only Equity actors sent to races from the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards.[55] Filming was then forced to continue through the 2024 season to make up for the lost races.[56]
During the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix, Hans Zimmer announced he would be composing the score for the film, marking his second collaboration with Kosinski after Top Gun: Maverick. It is also Zimmer's second Formula One-related score, following the Ron Howard-directed film Rush (2013). Zimmer co-composed the score with Steve Mazzaro, creating what Kosinski described as a musical identity that reflects Formula One's dual nature, "a sport that straddles both the past and the present, with its rich history and cutting-edge technology."[57]
Zimmer crafted a "hybrid" score combining orchestra and electronic music. He envisioned the orchestra as "the human that sits inside the machine," while the electronics represented the machine itself. Discussions with producer and F1 champion Lewis Hamilton helped shape Zimmer's understanding of that relationship, influencing how the music was written.[57] Electronic music, Zimmer noted, was also key to capturing the unpredictability of racing. "With synthesizers, it's the same as in the race – you don't quite know who's going to do what next. There's always the element of surprise built in, and I think that's very important in a film like this: you score for surprise."[57]
The score features guitarist Tim Henson, drummer Marco Minnemann and members of Zimmer's touring band. This marks Zimmer's 13th collaboration with Bruckheimer, beginning with Days of Thunder (1990).[57] Central to the score is a recurring motif for Pitt's character, Sonny Hayes, which Zimmer described as a "gunslinger motif."[57] Zimmer and Mazzaro paid attention to the way the score interacts with the film's sound design and visuals.
Ryan Tudhope was the VFX supervisor,[58] and Framestore provided post-production services on the film, citing involvement from their studios in Montreal, London and Mumbai.[59] Tudhope returned to collaborate with director Joseph Kosinski, leveraging techniques they used on Top Gun: Maverick to re-skin jets to replace F1 cars captured during real Grands Prix with the fictional black-and-gold APXGP cars.[60]
The film was marketed under the title F1 the Movie.[61][62][63]
Ahead of its release, Apple gave the film a comedic spotlight at its 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference, held on 9 June. The keynote opened with Craig Federighi at the wheel of the APXGP car—complete with Apple CarPlay on board—navigating the roof of Apple Park as if running a solo Grand Prix, with Tim Cook as his race director. [64]
On June 11, 2025, Apple released a "haptic trailer" for the film; when played on the Apple TV app, the Taptic Engine on supported iPhones vibrates and pulses sync with the on-screen action.[69]
Sponsorships from various brands featured in the film brought in at least $40 million, according to Forbes estimates.[70] Many of the brands were featured on the APXGP cars and clothing as team sponsors, such as Expensify, GEICO, SharkNinja, MSC Cruises and EA Sports.[70] Other sponsors that featured on the cars such as IWC Schaffhausen released watches themed on APXGP's black and gold colors, Tommy Hilfiger launched a line of clothing, and Mercedes-AMG revealed a limited APXGP-edition Mercedes-AMG GT 63. The F1 25 game by EA Sports featured the APXGP livery as it appears in the film alongside scenarios that players can undertake.[71]Peak and GEICO were sponsors of the fictional "Chip Hart Racing" (played by Wright Motorsports in IMSA) team from the 24 Hours of Daytona scenes.[72]Heineken 0.0 released a commercial for their product featuring Pitt and Idris as F1 drivers.[73][74]
Hot Wheels released of a 1:64-scale die-cast model of the #7 APXGP car driven by Brad Pitt's character in the film.[77] In certain Latin American countries, McDonald's launched a special combo in partnership with F1, where customers had the option to pay extra to get a 1:43 scale APXGP or McDonald's-liveried Bburago model car.[78] Some McDonald's outlets in São Paulo also had full-size F1 cars on display.[78]
Release
In June 2022, Apple acquired distribution rights in a package deal worth $130–140 million before above-the-line compensation.[79] In June 2024, Warner Bros. Pictures acquired the theatrical, home entertainment and digital purchase distribution rights from Apple; Apple retains SVOD rights and the film will become available on Apple TV+ at a later date.[80] The film had an early IMAX screening on June 23, 2025.[81] The film was released in the IMAX format internationally on June 25, 2025, and was released domestically on June 27, 2025.[82] A private screening was held in Monaco during the Cannes Film Festival for the drivers of the 2025 F1 season.[83] Due to popular demand, the film was re-released in IMAX on August 8, 2025.[84]
The film had its world premiere on June 16, 2025, at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City, with the cast and 2025 F1 drivers in attendance.[85] The European premiere was held on June 23 at Empire Leicester Square in London.[86] A Qatar Airways flight from Montreal to New York was chartered for the F1 drivers and team principals to attend the premiere following the Canadian Grand Prix.[87]
The release of the film coincided with a significant rise in cybercrime, as scammers exploited the film's popularity by creating fake live streaming sites and fraudulent toy giveaways linked to a bogus McDonald's–Apple promotion, tricking users into sharing personal and financial information. Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky confirmed that these scams were widespread.[90]
Reception
Box office
As of September15,2025[update], F1 has grossed $189.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $434.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $623.4 million.[4][5]
Opening to $146.3 million worldwide,[5] the film is considered to be Apple Studios's first box office hit, and the first film from the studio to top the box office on its opening weekend.[91] It surpassed $200 million in its second weekend.[92] In early August, it became the highest-grossing Brad Pitt film in history, surpassing the $540 million theatrical run of World War Z (2013).[93] In September 2025, Variety reported the film was expected to make a theatrical profit of around $34million.[94]
In the United States and Canada, F1 was released alongside M3GAN 2.0, and was projected to gross anywhere from $35 million to $60 million in its opening weekend, with most industry estimates around $40 million.[95][96] The film made $10 million in previews, including $7 million from Thursday showings.[97] It debuted to $57 million, topping the box office.[98] In its second weekend, the film made $26.1 million, dropping 54%, finishing second behind newcomer Jurassic World Rebirth, and surpassing Napoleon (2023) to become Apple Studios' highest-grossing film.[99]F1 made $13.1 million in its third weekend, finishing third behind Superman and Jurassic World Rebirth.[100][101]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 82% of 352 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "Driven by Brad Pitt's laidback magnetism and sporting a souped-up engine courtesy of Joseph Kosinski's kinetic direction, F1 the Movie brings vintage cool across the finish line."[102]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 56 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[103] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it a 92% overall positive score, with 78% saying they would definitely recommend the film.[3]
BBC's Nicholas Barber gave the film two stars out of five and wrote: "Formula One enthusiasts may disagree, and they may be delighted that their beloved motorsport has been put on the big screen in such a laudatory fashion. Everyone else: this is not where you want to be."[104]Manohla Dargis of The New York Times deemed F1 to be "an enjoyably arranged collection of all the visual attractions and narrative clichés that money can buy".[105]
In motorsport media
Reception within motorsport media was mixed. Ben Hunt of Autosport said it was "good for non-F1 fans", whereas Mark Mann-Bryans said it was "not good for anyone watching", lauding the production quality and soundtrack but criticising the plot and female character tropes.[106][107] Fred Smith of Road & Track said the film was "entertaining, but hardcore racing fans will wince".[108] Phillip Horton of Autoweek described the film as "solid enough nonsense for a little bit of escapism".[109]
Katy Fairman of Motor Sport described the film as "comedically unrealistic", adding that "with the level of access they had into [F1] itself, it felt a little like [APXGP] before Sonny Hayes showed up: pointless".[110] Mixed reviews also came from journalists at The Race, with praise for the racing sequences and criticism for its depiction of women in motorsport and plot.[111]Top Gear's Jason Barlow described it as "a crowd-pleasing, feel-good blockbuster".[112] Chris Medland of Racer described the racing footage as "spectacular", but criticised the character development—particularly that of Kate McKenna—and added that "for some it might be too hard to get lost in the APXGP world when you know so much about the real one that it was filmed in—as incredible as that world looks".[113]
Defending four-time World Drivers' Champion Max Verstappen skipped the private screening for F1 drivers and the New York premiere, and Carlos Sainz Jr. cautioned "pure F1 fans" to "be open-minded to Hollywood films".[114]
Following the early box office success of the film, Variety reported that a sequel was being discussed and the Financial Times reported on the possibility of a franchise.[116][92]
↑ Split distribution between Warner Bros. Pictures and Apple TV+; Warner Bros. handles the theatrical, home media and VOD releases, while Apple exclusively handles the SVOD release.
↑ Both Kosinski and Bruckheimer claim the budget was $200 million; several industry analysts have estimated it to be up to $300 million.[2][3]
↑ Sonny is depicted winning the GTD class of the 24 Hours of Daytona, the fourth-highest class after GTP, LMP2, and GTD Pro; under the rules in IMSA, drivers who are older than 55—regardless of status—are declared amateurs.
↑ Moore-Colyer, Marc McLaren Contributions from Roland; Evans, Matt; Wilson, Mark; Scarrott, Becky; Richards, Jamie; Metz, Axel; Hector, Hamish; Bolton, Matt; Hanson, Matt (June 9, 2025). "15 things we learned at the Apple WWDC 2025 keynote". TechRadar. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
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