Like all hard core F1 fans the news of an F1 branded movie came with some trepidation, how well could they capture the essence of the sport, the speed of the cars and the drama off-track which really feeds much of the following of the sport given it’s some-times processional racing.

Last night, I attended the Sydney Premiere of F1 presented by Universal Pictures on behalf of Apple Original Films and it was pretty much as I expected. Not disappointing, but not the blockbuster many might have hoped.

To really unpack a movie like this I think like the sport of F1 when attending an event like the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne you have to appreciate it takes all kinds to fill the grandstands and corporate boxes, not everyone shares the same level of passion.

I took my hard core F1 fanatic 18 year old son, my non-plussed about F1 14 year old Daughter and my Top Gun loving F1 fan 13 year old Son along for the ride.

For the Hard Core F1 Fan

Thanks to the involvement of Lewis Hamilton as a producer on the film, there’s a very strong sense of reality in the racing action and the racing story arc. Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) is a difficult to believe story line, but for fans of Daniel Ricciardo hoping for a comeback it leaves a glimmer of hope.

Hayes early career is seen through the eye of an onboard camera – racing alongside Ayrton Senna at Jerez. Mirroring the horrific 1990 crash of Martin Donnelly in Jerez, well, Hayes F1 career seems over until a decades later lifeline from an old mate.

Now, leaving aside how he qualifies for an FIA Super-licence or how he is physically fit enough to jump from WEC driving to F1 – there is some suspension of disbelief required.

True and legendary F1 fans will pick apart racing scenes to work out where the outstanding visual effects place the APX GP cars into real F1 races alongside action scenes shot at real F1 events.

The on-board and off-board footage is exceptional. It really is as believable that Brad Pitt drove in F1 races as Tom Cruise flying fighter jets on a bombing mission.

Commentary from David Croft and Martin Brundle give the film authenticity, even Aussie Leigh Diffey who is now a big-name in the US TV sports world makes a strong appearance in the early part of the film. The producers really worked the actual industry into this film very, very well.

Assuming you accept that of course some licence had to be taken with parts of the story line, or even the effects of some crashes (the fiery crash which saw a car fly far, far into the air stands out as a strange one), then I think F1 fans will see this as a nod to the sport they love, and will need to understand that it may draw even more new fans in, just as Drive to Survive did and continues to do.

Mostly you’ll find yourself turning to your fellow F1 loving mate at the cinema saying “did you see that”, or “wow that looked good” and “oh look it’s” as you name an F1 paddock regular that the average audience member might not know.

For the new to F1 Drive to Survive fan

Perhaps the perfect audience for this film is in fact the Drive to Survive (DTS) loving F1 convert.

There’s a story to follow, much like the almost fictional episodic DTS formula. Fortunately the love story plays just a small role and doesn’t dominate the overall path to redemption arc of the Sonny Hayes character.

Much of the off-track action in the movie is like that of DTS on Netflix so it has that feeling to it, with some drama behind the scenes of the team, some team-mate rivalry and issues to unpack, and of course the underlying story of the APXGP team looking to survive in F1.

You’ll probably see this as an 8 or 8.5 out of ten if i was a betting man.

For the Brad Pitt loving movie fan

I think the F1 Movie may be too deeply set in the world of Formula One Racing to really work as a mainstream blockbuster. My Daughter observed that it was far more about and including the sport than about the story itself.

One wonders if with the same level of access to the actual F1 grid, tracks and events an entirely different story of an F1 driver might have been more appealing but still pleased those F1 fans because of the authenticity of the F1 action.

It’s a lot to understand, and there are vast parts of the movie dedicated to explaining F1, albeit subtly through on-track commentary or otherwise

Pitt is a superstar of Hollywood, and he plays this role oh so very well. His rookie team mate played by Damson Idris is meant to grate at you and then you warm to him, while there are you usual evil villain style suspects sprinkled in to add some extra drama that perhaps wasn’t in the first draft.

I’d think a non F1 fan might rate this similarly to an F1 fan, well above average but not in the blockbuster category, it’s perhaps sitting in the 6.5 to 7.5 out of ten range for a non-fan, but I’ll leave others to determine that.

It’s an Ad for Formula One

F1 bosses were right to push for the access these filmmakers were granted. Every minute of this movie is an ad for F1. Not just in the sense that it might convert some people to be fans, but if you don’t see the “See you next year in Las Vegas” billboard you’re missing out.

If you don’t see the product placement for Mercedes you’re blind. And generally just the whole thing is the right level of commercial – and real companies as sponsors, to make it all feel real.

Should you see F1 the movie?

I think the cinematic experience of F1 will be it’s biggest selling point. I’m going to see it next week on IMAX and have high expectations for that edit, and suggest you see it in the cinema with the biggest screen and best sound you can.

While it will of course come to and live on Apple TV+ being an Apple investment, I do think it’s worth a cinema viewing to really take in the scale of what the team behind this were able to pull off.

Review: 7/10