Fast Company: F1 The Movie Revs Up the Summer with Speed

The coolest cockpit in cinema

Brad Pitt may be aging, but the cockpit has never looked cooler. In F1 The Movie, director Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) takes the wheel for what might be the slickest and loudest film of the summer.

Set in the high-octane world of Formula 1, the movie is all gleaming metal, split-second decisions, and egos clashing at 300 mph. It’s a sports film that knows its genre well, hits every familiar note, and somehow makes them sing again with the aid of a billion-dollar budget, an IMAX lens, and a very convincing Brad Pitt.

The story follows a familiar formula. An aging legend, Sonny Hayes (Brad), is pulled out of retirement to help a struggling fictional team, APXGP, and mentor a hot-headed rookie, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). We’ve seen it before with themes of mentorship, redemption, and second chances. But F1 The Movie knows exactly how to deliver the rush.

More than speed

Joseph’s direction is clinical and aerodynamic, borrowing from his own playbook to engineer racing scenes that are both technically impressive and emotionally visceral. Shot in 1.90:1 IMAX with the same Sony Venice camera rig used in Maverick, the film places you squarely in the cockpit. You experience the races, jolting forward with every shift and flinch. There’s genuine adrenaline here that leaves your palms sweating and your heart somewhere near your throat.

In those moments, F1 almost transcends itself. You feel the speed, the danger, and the fatal romance of machinery. Brad’s charisma commands the screen and Hans Zimmer’s score swells with emotion, but it’s the choreography of risk and vulnerability that truly electrifies the film, turning each scene into a kinetic ballet. For fans of Gran Turismo or Crash, there’s a similar intoxication in the depiction of motion, the sense of physical laws bending under pressure.

Fueling the fantasy

For all its high-octane spectacle, F1 The Movie also embraces a polished aesthetic. Everything, from the fictional team’s logo to the sleek sponsor integrations, feels meticulously considered. Take IWC Schaffhausen. The brand outfits Damson’s rookie character with a Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph 41 in 18-carat gold and simultaneously launches two real-world editions timed with the film’s release, each bearing gold-stamped APXGP insignias on the casebacks.

Tommy Hilfiger, meanwhile, leans into the moment with a campaign fronted by Damson and inspired by the film’s racing energy. The APXGP Collection channels a prep-meets-pit-crew aesthetic with red quilted jackets, varsity-style mechanic shirts, and tailored denim. It’s stylish and self-aware, building on Tommy’s longstanding connection to motorsport. If the film is the vehicle, the collection is its wardrobe, a way to bring the world of F1 beyond the screen and into everyday style.

For all the clichés it leans on, F1 never insults your intelligence. It simply banks on your willingness to enjoy the ride. And enjoy it, you will. It’s the summer blockbuster that doesn’t reinvent anything, but executes with such conviction and velocity that reinvention becomes irrelevant.

Courtesy IWC Schaffhausen and Tommy Hilfiger