Does F1: The Movie have the winning formula?

Racing films have always had a reputation for being comedically unrealistic, and unfortunately this production is another to add to the list.There’s no denying that it is beautifully shot, with director Joseph Kosinski giving the audience a new perspective from the driver’s cockpit, but a zero-to-hero plot scattered with inconsistencies and crashes more at home in the F1 video game means this film never gets out of first gear.

The movie begins with a stint at the Daytona 24 Hours for Brad Pitt’s character Sonny Hayes. Living in his van, as an ageing driver-for-hire, he nonetheless helps the sports car team regain the lead after a night shift behind the wheel. As Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin is blasted out, complemented by some incredible racing shots from around the Speedway, things start promisingly enough – but then we get onto the actual F1 plotline.

Hayes is approached by APXGP F1 team boss Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) who explains that after three years of running the backmarker team, he will lose it all if they don’t win a race in the nine remaining rounds; a task made even more impossible as they have never scored a single point.

Haynes signs up. The first race is Silverstone. Cue some of our first cameos for the actual drivers on the F1 grid. Given how much they’ve been paraded around to promote the movie at premieres, you expect the drivers to get a little more screen time yet instead all we see is them lining up for the national anthem and then climbing into their respective cars.

The on-board and action shots are certainly a highlight of this movie, as you’d expect from the director of Top Gun: Maverick. Being able to see the intensity in the eyes of Hayes and Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) or the sweat popping on their brows really makes you feel immersed in the moment at well-known circuits such as Monza and Hungaroring.

Much has been made of the realism of F1. But small details that have been overlooked become glaringly obvious to the diehard fans, like a lack of double-waved yellows after incidents or allowing a driver to show up and race despite not having participated in qualifying.

There’s also a questionable storyline arc where Hayes deliberately causes safety cars during a race in order to benefit his team-mate’s strategy, an idea that mimics ‘Crashgate’ in 2008 and would likely result in a black flag or race ban if used today. Instead it’s brushed off and he’s praised internally for his “forward-thinking”.

Blended between factual inconsistencies and crashes is a romance between Hayes and his new technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon). Introduced as the first-ever female to hold this title in F1, it’s a nice touch to give a woman this opportunity in a fictional race team but the bubble is quickly burst when she sleeps with Hayes, and takes his advice on designing the car, which suddenly works wonders.

It sums up the movie: a nice idea fatally undermined by Hollywood clichés.

F1: The Movie

At cinemas now Certificate 12A