The pinnacle of motorsport reached a new height with the release of the sports drama movie F1, directed by Joseph Kosinski. With some theatres still playing the film over two months after opening weekend on June 27, Formula One (F1) superfans and casual cinema goers alike have made their pit stops at the screens to get their kick of fast cars and fiery rivalries. 

Overview: fact or fiction? 

F1 follows Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), a former F1 driver who exited the sport after suffering a brutal collision early on in his career. Decades later, he reluctantly returns to the paddock when his old F1 teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) pleads with Hayes to join Apex Grand Prix (APXGP), a new F1 team in desperate need of securing a race victory. If the team fails to win at least one Grand Prix by the end of the season, their investors will sell Cervantes’ team. 

Hayes begins to work closely alongside his new teammate Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), a feisty young driver who often clashes heads and cars with Hayes. While attempting to navigate his new machinery, Hayes also frequently meets with Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon), the team’s technical director. 

With only half of a season left to secure a victory and save APXGP, Hayes must learn how to compete, collaborate, and confront his complicated relationship with F1 racing. The plot is packed with action, competition, and drama, but diehard F1 fans have been finding themselves in heated debates and discussions alike: how accurately does the fictional movie depict the very real and complex sport?

Fans’ analysis

To start, Hayes’ recruitment into the team is highly unlikely. Every F1 team is composed of two drivers. Additionally, each team has at least one reserve driver: they attend most, if not all, races throughout the season and are ready to step in when needed, typically due to illness or injury from the team’s main pair of racers. 

Pearce’s first APXGP teammate was injured following a gnarly crash mid-season, opening up the seat for Hayes to step in. While the team’s reserve driver, Luca Cortez (Luciano Bacheta), is also very quickly mentioned, there is no point made for why he isn’t chosen instead! 

While one could argue that having two young, inexperienced drivers on one team that is already in jeopardy is not a smart move, neither is employing a driver who hasn’t competed in any F1 races for over 30 years.

Another gripe many F1 fans held with the film was a move done by Hayes that seemed eerily similar to a real F1 incident from the 2008 Singaporean Grand Prix: Crashgate. 

To summarize, driver Nelson Piquet Jr. intentionally but illegally crashed his own car to release a safety car, which is often favourable for maintaining the lead, as cars are not allowed to pass each other behind the safety car. The crash indeed released a safety car, becoming advantageous for his teammate, Fernando Alonso. 

After a thorough investigation, Piquet Jr. and several members of his team kissed their careers in F1 goodbye, facing harsh bans and disqualifications. In the movie, Hayes pulled an almost-identical stunt at the Hungarian Grand Prix, match-fixing for Pearce to secure APXGP’s first top-10 finish while facing zero penalties. This was one of the many moments throughout the film that made many F1 enthusiasts cringe and sigh.

The movie deliberately sacrifices realism for drama: it prioritizes the emotional redemption arc of a washed-up athlete and ignores strict rules held in place to maintain the fairness of the sport. If you’re an F1 fan, don’t expect a lot of authentic racing to translate over onto the big screen. However, if you’re looking for a film with intense racing, spunky competition, and several brief cameos of Charles Leclerc, the F1 movie certainly gets a green flag.