Loud engines, fast cars and drivers who won’t give an inch. No, it’s not LA traffic, it’s the IMAX debut of modern day F1. Trying to transcribe the complexity of F1 onto the standard sport drama template is quite an ambitious task. Director Joseph Kosinski is an ambitious man. Brad Pitt takes on the lead role as Sonny Hayes, a washed out former prodigy. Damson Idris, Javier Barden and Kerry Condon all play key supporting roles. The plot follows familiar themes of racing sport dramas, a former star driver trying to prove his place while an ambitious rookie tries to step out of his shadow, all while the team struggles with internal politics and fights for survival. 

The racing scenes are hands down the best parts of the movie. The film crew developed their own cameras for this movie since they couldn’t mount normal cameras due to the weight. That would have sent any racing realism they were going for to the way of the dodo. All that work paid off. The film is shot in a way that makes the audience feel all the G-forces in every high speed corner. Fans can feel the stress on the tires in every hairpin turn but most importantly it lets the audience imagine what it would be like to sit in an F1 cockpit while flying at 235 miles per hour. 

Lewis Hamilton, Formula 1 driver for Ferrari, joined the crew, bringing a wealth of experience and insight. His presence is especially reflected in the racing scenes as most of them are nods to real F1 controversies. Easter eggs every die hard F1 fan can appreciate. The film was also a commercial success, in part, thanks to some clever sponsor placements by the filmmakers. Since formula liveries and suits are plastered with sponsors, the filmmakers decided to go with real companies to help mitigate production costs. This not only felt natural, since blank liveries and suits are basically unheard of, but also added to the realism. 

Speaking of realism, the film did take a few hits and bruises. Fans would have noticed a few “Hollywood” moments where rules were bent for the sake of plot. Lines like old “flying” and “pushing the machine” were to be expected, but a few characters were underwritten and could have used a little more time and attention paid to their back stories. 

It’s not a perfect film, but it does get a lot of the stuff right. What it doesn’t get right is minor and can be forgiven considering it is an ambitious first look into Formula 1 racing on the big screen. Plus fans got a lot of cool exclusive music from artists like Tate McRae, Doja Cat and Ed Sheeran to make up for it.