SPOILERS FOR F1: THE MOVIE, OBVIOUSLY#

I watched this movie with my relatives over Christmas dinner. I’ll start this out with the background and follow up with the positives, since there were some.

I’m an American F1 fan, if my About Me (which I should update eventually) should also mention. I’ve been supporting McLaren since before I got into the sport proper in 2023, a timeframe that’s partially responsible for why I recognize some of the moments in this film clearly. I come into this movie from the perspective of someone who’s an authentic, even if not very knowledgeable or very dedicated, fan of the sport. I understand the direction this movie comes from; it was not meant for me, a choice I feel is disappointing for a franchise like F1 and speaks to the intentions of the brand.

In terms of overarching storylines, this movie knew where to focus on and what to film and what to do to get an F1 fan’s attention. I had lots to say about Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps as tracks given their fame (especially considering they name-dropped Eau Rouge), as well as Monza, since I attended the 2025 race there. The racers being shown directly was a neat touch, even if I found some of the details of why weird, as well as actual incidents from the races being called back to; I remember calling back to the turn 1 double Alpine crash in Hungary before it even happened, and the detail of Lando and Carlos being the first two drivers to look at each other during the helmet shots at Silverstone, even if unintentional, was a fun touch. The fact that Verstappen was as strong of a driver as he was when he was actually a challenger to the APX GP cars feels very realistic. I also liked the depiction of the 24 Hours of Daytona and GT3 racing, though it feels like a leap that Sonny Hayes would go to Formula 1 from there.

That brings me to the source of all of my biggest critiques behind the F1 movie: Sonny Hayes himself. He’s a stereotypical American movie hero who gets away with the most unlikable lack of sportsmanship because he’s able to get results off-screen. Early on, not only did he not get results, but he also put in the effort to disobey team orders and deny his teammate anything. He turns the technical director at APX GP into a prop because of how much of a Mary Sue he is in both the design principle of the car and actual race strategy before he decides to be a womanizer and make it painfully clear that said technical director, who I can’t even remember the name of because of how little that seemed to matter, was written by a man. I’m mad that he succeeded in actually getting in her pants, and further maddened by how Ruben Cervantes walks up to her and treats it like that’s normal; this movie is embarassingly sexist in this regard in ways that I can’t understand, because this technical director can’t make anything better than a “shitbox”, so she needs a man (an American man, at that, someone from a country that’s historically poorly equipped for this sport) to swoop in and save the day by doing her job for her. It’s a regression on representation in the name of furthering it that just serves to upset everyone.

It further goes to show how much Mary Sue they put into Hayes to be the old, middle-aged American miracle when the only things that seem to go right for APX GP are the things he has control over. His behavior on-track should’ve gotten him a season ban from the sport and multiple qualifications in a way that puts what I know about Kevin Magnussen’s early stints to shame, which he conveniently seems to be able to keep relying on to gain an actual fanbase and become a face instead of a heel in the peoples’ eyes. Max Verstappen has done far less to be upset about, but I still feel nothing when I see him doing well, despite how much I respect his legacy; how can a guy like this get this many fans? The rapid and unrealistic ascension of the car’s performance before it all seems to fall apart in Vegas, even if temporarily, is extremely hollow and further serves to break the suspension of disbelief; that one man can suddenly waltz in and turn a nearly bankrupt team into a masterpiece is a mockery of a sport where someone like Alex Albon ran a one-driver operation to get table scraps for Williams in one of the worst cars on the grid. His race win was literally handed to him on a silver platter; that he found his “flow” in the car while holding a multiple second lead over Leclerc to win the race in the final lap is a joke. Strategies that would run him bans and keep his team at 0 points reward someone who ultimately deserves the nothing he’s left with at the end of the movie.

Then there’s the depictions of the other drivers. I think Joshua Pearce is one of the most interesting characters in this story, even if his arc feels unearned (especially being able to front-run against Lewis Hamilton), but it’s not much of a problem. Save this and, as I mentioned above, Verstappen’s entire presence in the movie (which I did enjoy even when he was winning even on the backdrop of his 2023 dominance, which speaks volumes), this movie seemed to have a knack for making every actual F1 driver look incompetent, with random lock-ups from the best cars on the grid to that weird “sacrifice checkmate” at Abu Dhabi that ultimately ended up with Pearce and Hamilton crashing anyways and Hayes getting to not only be a martyr, but win out in the end. Hamilton looking at Pearce during the red flag feels so weird as well, especially since Pearce wasn’t even supposed to be a threat at this point, what with championship rivals Ferrari having a car in P2; I can’t even be mad that Hamilton and Toto Wolff are featured as they are, especially considering they were on the movie, but they look embarassing in the scenes they’re in. It’s sad; nothing makes sense here.

I’ll briefly mention how unrealistic the plot is. No board would be demanding a win out of a midfield team; points should be enough to yield some pay. As much as the twist villain reveal feels flaccid, both in the cinematography of the initial reveal and the weight of his appearance thereafter, I will at least appreciate that it’s one of the few things about this movie, besides the racing logic itself, that actually feels realistic; it harkens vaguely to the move that landed Lawrence Stroll in charge of what was Force India, except with a far more underhanded lead-in.

I couldn’t watch (or play) through any of the Breaking Points from the F1 games, but this movie’s plotline of learning to trust your teammates and your team and becoming a better, kinder person in the process harkens back to what I know of those games, something that stands in stark contrast to a reality emphasized by McLaren this season, as well as often in the team’s past; at the very least, Breaking Point took an arc of seven seasons, including very realistic positions for midfield teams, characters like Casper Ackermann retiring in his state and being respectable about it, and the thorough progression of multiple characters’ growth from rookie to champion (either in the well-deserved victory reminiscent of Lando Norris’ season from Aiden Jackson, or the history-making upset of the century in Callie Mayer’s victory that almost represents what could’ve happened this season with Piastri), to get there. This is a sport, after all; to constantly depict it far more saccharine than it is when rivalries are literally playing out on the stage being depicted is disappointing and a bad mark on motorsport at large.

I can’t pretend I wasn’t looking forward to this movie. I’ve been incredibly excited for F1 since McLaren’s surge in power and have seen it all over F1’s socials. The races and seasons that I’ve followed panned out in front of me on the silver screen (or, in my case, the TV screen), and even though I figured it’d be nasty, I was at least going to take a shot at it and be excited about it. I’m disappointed I ever was. I knew this would happen, and yet I held my hopes up anyways, and that’s on me. I’ll try not to do that in the future.

In short: From the very company responsible for one of the most competitive motorsports leagues in the world comes a mockery of the same league with nothing to make up for it. I wouldn’t recommend anyone watch this ever. This is why I don’t watch movies.

P.S. Knowing I have no intent to finish an entirely unrelated post I considered making, I’d like to shout out this Umamusume dedicated blog I found and greatly enjoy reading through. Thank you for your passion, Fernando Damas, writer and programmer for Va-11 Hall-A (so that’s how it’s spelled…), among other things. Maybe I’ll have your level of unadultered swag one day, but for now, I’ll happily read your posts the moment they pop up in my RSS feed.