Formula 1

What we've learned from F1 movie's grand filming finale

by Scott Mitchell-Malm
8 min read

Up Next

Principal photography for next year's Formula 1 movie was completed in Abu Dhabi this week including filming scenes for what looks set to be the story's climax.

The making of the Brad Pitt-led film, which is simply titled F1 and will be released on June 25 internationally and June 27 in North America, has involved filming at several grands prix across 2023 and 2024.

The Race has been present every time F1 paddocks have turned into live movie sets, including in Abu Dhabi last weekend and when the fictional APX GP team's F1-bodied F2 cars ran on-track in the week, after the post-season test.

Based on what we've seen, heard and been told by key project personnel, here are the main things we learned from a grand finale for the filming process and the movie itself.

PITT VS RUSSELL AND LECLERC

Two-thirds of the movie is already cut so after this week the planned filming is complete and the focus is on the final edit.

However, it is possible that more pick-up shots will be filmed in the future if it is discovered that anything essential is missed or needs to be recaptured.

The filming schedule included heading to Abu Dhabi for a second time and shooting various elements in-weekend as well as staying on for the week afterwards for more pick-up shots to augment what has already been filmed.

During the race weekend, the standout moment was noted by almost everybody in attendance: a podium scene involving Pitt celebrating with Charles Leclerc (who was on the podium for the grand prix itself) and George Russell.

Then, after the post-season test finished on Tuesday, two APX cars were filmed on-track with Russell and Leclerc in their real Mercedes and Ferrari cars respectively.

The film used the 2023 season as a reference, with the APX team fighting as an underdog, and the real-world results will be mostly accurate. APX's competitiveness means it is mainly lower positions that will change to accommodate the cars - although based on what was filmed in Abu Dhabi, the season finale looks set to be the exception.

Leclerc and Russell finished second in the 2023 finale, behind race winner Max Verstappen, so the obvious conclusion is that Pitt’s character rounds off the season with a victory instead. However Damson Idris, who plays Pitt's team-mate, filmed a podium scene in Abu Dhabi as well. So the final result, not to mention the events that lead to it, is actually unknown.

GETTING PAST RED BULL 'VILLAIN' FEAR

In the film, Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, an older driver who had his initial F1 ambitions thwarted by a crash but has been asked by an old team-mate turned team owner (Javier Bardem) to come back to help his backmarker team and its talented youngster (Idris).

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Joseph Kosinski are both known to have keenly pushed the fact that the current teams are not shown as protagaonists or antagonists - which was particularly pertinent for Red Bull.
What we learned from F1 2024's first big film set
Read more

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is a producer for the film and has assisted with the script to aid its authenticity. Hamilton opened doors to F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and facilitated the grand access the movie should benefit from, but it also sparked concern.

Bruckheimer has revealed that Red Bull, who Hamilton and his Mercedes team fought so fiercely with in his controversial 2021 title battle with Max Verstappen, thought "we're going to be the villains".

It took a reasonable amount of time and effort through the film's three-year journey so far to convince the teams that the rivalry depicted is between the two APX drivers; the real-world teams and drivers are effectively just supporting characters.

Bruckheimer likened this to the US Navy's response when he made the first Top Gun movie. He was rejected by the admiral at the naval base, for fear it would backfire badly if there was an accident. That prompted Bruckheimer to go directly to the US Secretary of the Navy and get top-level support, which he likened to the conversations that were opened with Domenicali.

The claim is that the US secretary's response was "I get it, this is great for the Navy" - which supposedly had a significant recruitment increase in the year after Top Gun's release - and that Domenicali replied in kind when it was F1's turn, because of the huge marketing opportunity it should be for F1.

Eventually, the teams all bought into the same idea. And Abu Dhabi showcased a specific example of that as, in advance of the weekend, all 10 teams took time out of their preparations to line their cars up on-track for an hour to help shoot a scene for the movie.

HOW STRIKE DELAYS HELPED

This was not the first time the APX cars and the film crew were in Abu Dhabi. Just like it wasn't the first time they were in Las Vegas, or Hungary, or the UK (to name just a few races).

Last year's writers' strike in the US, the longest in history at more than five months, impacted the original plan. Bruckheimer and Hamilton both publicly admitted it hurt production as it delayed certain elements but the filmmakers did work around it as much as possible.

It did have an impact on stuff involving the lead actors at races that couldn't be filmed in the strike window. And this meant committing to another round of filming in 2024.

But second unit photography continued last year, led by Kosinski, using some actors that were not part of the Screen Actors Guild supporting the strike - like members of the British equivalent - or simply using the stunt drivers to film pick-up shots and other footage not requiring the main cast. "So when we came back, we just had to shoot the actors," says Bruckheimer.

While there have been suggestions this contributed to swollen budgets, Bruckheimer and Kosinski have always denied this - citing elements like sponsorship from real companies to be featured on the cars, and rebates based on the European countries that filming locations were in.

And, importantly, it was something that project bosses were content with. It's worth remembering that Apple beat out competition from film studios Paramount, MGM, Sony, Universal and Disney, plus other streamers Netflix and Amazon MGM, and has been massively committed on the financial and technological front. All involved think the opportunity to visit all their locations a second time around, without breaking the budget, will ultimately lead to a better final product.

"It delayed things a little bit, but there was never any question about this," says Apple's senior vice president of services Eddy Cue.

"We believed. And in some ways, when you look back now, you can make an argument that having more time always helps.

"Because we were able to come here [Abu Dhabi] twice, as an example, and so we were able to film more than we would have."

DRAMATIC SCENES ROOTED IN REALITY

An inevitability with this project was that media and the public would get sight of scenes being filmed before their eyes. And that means photos and video footage quickly doing the rounds on social media.

In the age of online trolling, this hasn't always reflected the film in the best light. For example, a shot of Pitt filming a scene in which his character faints has been mocked. However, Cue points out that he "saw a guy walk out of a fire in F1", in reference to the Romain Grosjean inferno in Bahrain in 2020.

The two are not quite the same, but the point is: dramatic stuff happens in F1. So in an even more embellished world - which the film obviously is, as that is the point it serves as a Hollywood product - is a driver fainting (presumably because of an accident but who knows at this point) so unbelievable?

Interestingly, Bruckheimer says "a lot of the incidents in the movie are taken from actual F1 events and stories". This is essentially stuff from the last couple of decades used as inspiration or a reference. So, if it feels contrived or cringey, it came from somewhere real, and has just been dialled up.

It's Hollywood, Bruckheimer points out, it's not a documentary. That might be hard for the most engaged fans to look past, and doubtless there will be elements that make some wince, but it needs to be remembered for what it is.

And there is at least a sincere desire to showcase F1 as best as possible: that's why so much effort has gone into shooting detailed in-car footage using new cameras, new angles, purpose-built cars and training Pitt and Idris to drive them at least competently. 

BENEFITS OF FILMING IN PUBLIC

You might think that the clips that have been shared - like, in Abu Dhabi, Pitt on the podium with Russell and Leclerc, or driving on track in the subsequent test - would be frustrating given the lengths people behind films usually go to avoid spoilers.

But this is unavoidable. Trust has been placed in the media, including The Race, not to go overboard with giving stuff away. 'Say what you've seen', rather than spoiling it in advance, was the effective compromise. And that's why when fans have circulated images or clips online, the people in charge are fairly ambivalent about it - because what it boils down to is an out-of-context clip that, if anything, is free advertising.

"If you want to go to a set of a movie and you get a clip of it, you would have no idea what the hell's going on, right?" says Cue. "Because it's not like it's shot in sequence.

“These little things - I saw this thing on YouTube of Brad fainting in Vegas - you have no idea what the context of that is, or before.

"I actually think all of it helps."

The upshot is the public element has been embraced rather than feared, so the filmmakers say. And the rationale effectively boils down to ignoring the most vocal, mocking minority and prioritising feedback from people actually engaging in good faith.

"It never was an issue, it really wasn't," Bruckheimer says when asked by The Race how it has been dealing with the project being a live movie set in front of everybody, and how much more comfortable everybody involved became over the course of it all.

"We had security, we had everything we needed. And the fans have been phenomenal. They really have.

"They embraced us. They're really gracious to Brad and to the movie itself, the stuff that they tweet about the film have been really good.

"They realise the impact that a movie can have on a sport."

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • More Networks