Brad Pitt plays a retired racer called back for one last shot in F1. It’s loud, glossy and familiar, and it knows exactly what a man in his fifties dreams about.
Reviewed, edited and approved by Editor-in-chief Daniel Sköld · Updated 25 October 2026
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Every man of a certain age has the same daydream. The phone rings, someone tells you they need you back, and you get to prove the years haven’t knocked the edge off you. For most of us the call comes from the five-a-side WhatsApp group, and we last about twelve minutes before a hamstring files for divorce.
F1 gives that daydream a two-and-a-half-hour budget, a 12A certificate and Brad Pitt in a fireproof suit. As a film it’s about as subtle as a pit-lane air gun. As a fantasy for anyone who has spent Sunday afternoons shouting at Murray Walker, Martin Brundle or the telly in general, it does the job rather well.
Premiere2025-06-25
GenreAction, Drama
CastBrad Pitt, Damson Idris, Javier Bardem, Kerry Condon
Directed byJoseph Kosinski
Running time156 min
Rated12A
Watch onApple TV
78%
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One more lap for the old boy
The set-up is as old as motorsport itself. Sonny Hayes, a racing legend who has drifted away from the sport, gets coaxed out of retirement to lead a struggling Formula 1 team. On top of that he has to mentor a young hotshot driver who has the speed and none of the patience. Sonny, meanwhile, is chasing one more chance at glory. That’s all you need to know going in, and to be honest you could probably have written it yourself on the back of a Silverstone programme.
That isn’t really a criticism. Nobody goes to a film like this hoping to be surprised. You go for the noise, the speed and the pleasure of watching a man who should know better do it anyway. It runs 156 minutes, so pick your seat with care and go easy on the large drink.
Who’s in the garage
Brad Pitt plays Sonny, and it’s hard to imagine anyone else getting away with it. He has that slightly frayed, sun-damaged charm of a man who has had a good time and only regrets some of it. Damson Idris plays the young driver opposite him, and the pair spark nicely: impatience against experience, both convinced the other one is the problem.
Around them is a supporting cast that seems a bit too good for the paddock. Javier Bardem, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies and Kim Bodnia all turn up, and British viewers will enjoy Menzies in particular, who can make a raised eyebrow sound like a board meeting. The director is Joseph Kosinski, who already did this trick with fighter jets and an older leading man in Top Gun: Maverick. Here he swaps the cockpit for a monocoque and runs much the same race plan.
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Why it works for the Hamilton generation
Here’s the thing about British F1 fans in their forties, fifties and sixties: we’ve lived through every era. Mansell’s moustache, Hill’s quiet grit, Button’s charm and then the long, frankly ridiculous Lewis Hamilton years, when a British driver winning on a Sunday afternoon started to feel like part of the weekly routine. We know what the sport looks and sounds like, and we know when somebody is faking it.
F1 mostly gets away with it. The racing sequences are the real draw, shot with an in-car closeness that gets you nearer to the tarmac than any onboard camera on Sky Sports. Those are the bits where you feel the speed in your chest, and that sensation is worth the ticket on its own.
It’s a film about a man refusing to accept he’s past it, made for an audience who know exactly how that feels.
Where it struggles is everything off the track. The dialogue goes exactly where you expect it to go, the team politics are painted with a roller, and some scenes go on long after they’ve made their point. If you’ve seen a sports film made in the last forty years, you’ll spot most of the bends coming well before you reach them.
What the critics made of it
Reviews were broadly warm, and broadly in agreement. Critics praised the racing photography and Pitt’s movie-star ease, and grumbled about the paint-by-numbers story and the running time. Pretty much everyone filed it as a proper big-screen blockbuster of the old-fashioned kind, the sort Hollywood used to make every summer without breaking a sweat.
Audiences agreed in the way that counts, by buying tickets. F1 became a major box-office hit and Apple’s biggest cinema success to date, which suggests a lot of people fancied a couple of hours in the slipstream of the midlife fantasy.
Where to watch F1 in the UK
F1 opened in UK cinemas on 25 June 2025 with a 12A certificate. It’s now streaming on Apple TV, which is where you’ll find it in the UK. A big screen and a decent sound system do help, and if you’ve talked yourself into a soundbar purchase recently, this is your justification.
Verdict
F1 is a shiny, loud and unashamedly old-school blockbuster that’s far better on the track than off it. The story is as predictable as a safety car at Monaco, but the racing is thrilling and Pitt carries the whole thing with ease. It’s for anyone who grew up on Sunday afternoon Grand Prix coverage, or anyone who still secretly believes they’ve got one more comeback in them.
Ashley Isaacs picks what's worth your evening – film, TV, streaming, music and books for men 45 and over with limited evenings and too many subscriptions. Reviews of what's new on Netflix, Prime Video, BBC iPlayer and the rest, crime dramas worth a weekend, and classics worth a second look. What's worth watching, what isn't, and where to find it in the UK.
One of Midcent's writers. Spotted something? Write to ashley@midcent.uk.
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