F1, directed and co-produced by Joseph Kosinski, who also wrote the story with Ehren Kruger, has been nominated for four Academy Awards. In addition to the prestigious nomination for Best Picture, the film is also up for Best Editing, Best Sound, and Best Visual Effects.
The film stars Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes, a former F1 driver with a love of risk and speed. Damson Idris plays young driver Joshua Pearce, Javier Bardem is Ruben Cervantes, owner of the APXGP Formula 1 team, and Kerry Condon is Kate McKenna, team engineer. The cast also includes Tobias Menzies and Kim Bodnia.
The production followed the 2023 and 2024 Formula One seasons from July 2023 at Silverstone, and the film includes actual GP race footage from various circuits around the world, including the Monza racetrack. Scenes were also shot in Modena.
Known as "the greatest that never was", Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) was the brightest talent in Formula One in the 1990s until a racetrack accident nearly killed him. Thirty years later, Sonny is supporting himself as a mercenary driver when he is approached by his former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), now the owner of a struggling team on the verge of bankruptcy. Ruben manages to convince Sonny to return to the track, in a last-ditch attempt to save his team, and demonstrate that he is the world's best driver. Sonny is to race alongside Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), a talented rookie determined to dictate his own rules within the team. As the engines roar, the past resurfaces, and Sonny realizes that your fiercest competition in Formula 1is your teammate—and the road to redemption is one you can't travel alone.
A Monolith Pictures / Jerry Bruckheimer / Plan B Entertainment / Dawn Apollo Films production, a film by Joseph Kosinski, "F1® The Movie" is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.