Brad Pitt is starring as Sonny Hayes, a former Formula 1 driver who is brought back into racing for the recently released film F1, directed by Joseph Kosinski, the same director of Top Gun: Maverick.
F1 premiered globally on June 25 and opened in U.S. theatres on June 27, 2025. The story follows Hayes, a promising racer, who suffered a major crash and his career was cut short.
Years later, he comes back to the racing scene as a mentor to a young racer who is coming up in the racing world for a fictional team called APXGP.
Pitt's acting has been praised and considered one of his best performances recently. He trained for the role with seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, who also worked as a producer on the project.
The film melds high-speed racing with emotional character development with a look at the excitement as well as the pressure of life inside the F1 world.
The character of Sonny Hayes is fictionally inspired by a few real-life F1 figures, including Martin Donnelly, who survived a serious crash in 1990 and never returned to racing at the same level.
Putting Brad through his paces! Having seen what Sonny Hayes can do in the awesome new @F1Movie, it was only right that Brad got to experience an F1 car for real. Get to your local cinema and immerse yourself in the world of Formula 1! pic.twitter.com/DOE1fLQGpN
— Zak Brown (@ZBrownCEO) June 25, 2025
Real F1 Cars Bring Realism to Brad Pitt’s Racing Film
What separates F1 from the other films in the genre is the authenticity it delivers. Brad Pitt didn’t just act - he drove a Formula 1 car after undergoing the training to do so. He even drove a modified McLaren 2023 car while filming.
Some scenes were captured on live F1 race weekends, at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, where it was reported that Pitt approached nearly 200 miles during the process. To this production's benefit, the film showcased real racing and its intensity like few films have done before.
The film tracks Hayes' return and the personal challenges that come with returning to a sport he dominated. In addition to the physical elements of racing, he must also deal with the mental deprivation of racing against opponents that are all younger and faster than him.
The film also allows for the continuation of the story with a mid-credits scene that has Hayes chasing . . . off-road racing in Baja.
Given the audience interest as well as the backing from the F1 behind the scenes world, F1 will likely continue to develop into a racing franchise that follows Sonny Hayes' journey.
