This weekend’s British Grand Prix was one of the most exciting races of the season, but if it wasn’t quite cinematic enough for you, we’re just under a year off from the release of Apple Studio’s long-awaited F1 film. Coinciding with the thriller of a race, we now have a trailer, as well as a title: the film about F1, made in collaboration with F1, will be called… F1.
Let’s ignore some of the potential SEO issues that Apple has caused itself by giving it the exact same name as one of the biggest sports in the world – we’re sure it’s got people dealing with that.
Instead, let’s sit back and watch the trailer. In it, we see Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), a veteran racer who’s brought out of retirement to partner up with talented rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) for Apex Grand Prix, a fictional 11th entry on the F1 grid. If only the real sport was that welcoming to new teams.
The trailer doesn’t give too much away. It opens with a meeting between Hayes and an engineer, played by Kerry Condon, as they discuss the design requirements of Apex’s new car. We’re then pitched straight into some of the action that’s been shot during actual GP weekends over the last couple of years (with a heavily modified Formula 2 car as the Apex machine).
The Apex GP car in F1
The film is directed by Joseph Kosinski, who also oversaw Top Gun: Maverick, and you can tell. Some of the car-mounted camera shots are very reminiscent of similar scenes with that film’s fighter jets, and we have to say, they look excellent: raw, exciting and give a serious sense of speed.
The film, which counts Lewis Hamilton among its producers, is also set to feature plenty of cameos from real-world F1 stars. At least one of these is Guenther Steiner, who shows up in the trailer in his role as Haas team boss. Awks.
Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) and Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) in F1
The film, which also stars the likes of Dune’s Javier Bardem and The Crown’s Tobias Menzies, is set for an international release on 25 June 2025.
