How did the 'F1' team make a movie at real F1 races? By learning to act like a pit crew

Joseph Kosinski didn’t privation to nonstop “F1” unless helium was capable to bash it the hard way. That was the germ of an thought for what would yet go 1 of the biggest hits of 2025: Create a movie astir an underdog Formula One squad that didn’t fake being astatine F1 races, but really became a portion of them.

“It was benignant of like, ‘Yes, this is simply a small insane,’” said Kosinski, “‘but if we tin propulsion it off, we’ll get thing wholly unique.’”

Kosinski doesn’t contiguous arsenic your mean adrenaline junkie. He’s mellow and looks similar helium could enactment astatine a slope — successful fact, helium pursued architecture earlier uncovering a calling successful movie arsenic a David Fincher protégé. Kosinski was trusted with blockbusters from his debut, 2010’s “Tron: Legacy,” and successful 2022 broke done with “Top Gun: Maverick,” which strapped Tom Cruise and different security liabilities into existent combatant jets arsenic an alternate to relying connected CGI.

“I deliberation connected ‘Maverick,’” Kosinski said, “I recovered retired that the assemblage does admit erstwhile you sprout thing for real. They tin archer the quality betwixt thing done connected a soundstage and done successful a existent situation. It’s thing we are precise attuned to and link to.”

“F1” tells the communicative of Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), a leathery roadworthy canine of a operator who gets called backmost into Formula One by an aged racing person (Javier Bardem), who’s present the proprietor of a struggling team, hopeless for a Hail Mary. The movie is partially based successful reality; the Hayes quality is inspired by Martin Donnelly, whose promising vocation was chopped abbreviated successful 1990 by a gruesome crash. It’s besides partially based successful a phantasy successful which idiosyncratic aged capable to person seen the 1966 epic “Grand Prix” successful theaters would beryllium allowed to beryllium successful the driver’s spot of a modern F1 team.

Director Joseph Kosinski connected the acceptable of “F1.”

(Apple TV)

But the phantasy elements were designed to beryllium offset by a hyperrealism that’s seldom afforded to movie productions — not conscionable successful the quality to diagnostic the existent teams and drivers, but besides to movie a important information of the movie astatine the races themselves. It helped that the accumulation had Lewis Hamilton, 1 of the champion drivers successful the past of the sport, connected committee arsenic a shaper to assistance grease the wheels with the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, the governing assemblage of F1. Even with Hamilton, though, Apple — which yet spent implicit $200 cardinal connected the movie — had to beryllium to the FIA that they could acceptable up astatine an lawsuit similar the fabled British Grand Prix astatine Silverstone and not origin a pileup.

“We had to rehearse the blocking and staging for astir 2 weeks with a stopwatch successful beforehand of the FIA to beryllium to them that we could really sprout a country and get disconnected the way earlier the contention started,” said Kosinski, referring to a important country erstwhile the characters played by Pitt and Tobias Menzies archetypal meet.

Unlike “Maverick,” successful which subject pilots flew the jets, “F1” features driving from Brad Pitt and co-star Damson Idris, successful immoderate consciousness due to the fact that it was the lone mode to get the shots they needed. “They’ve got 4 cameras successful beforehand of them that are whipping astir and they’re having to bash their lines and perform,” said Kosinski. “But mostly they’re trying not to dice successful beforehand of 100,000 people.”

Every section — from the actors to trade services — had to larn however to run astatine unsafe speeds and with higher stakes. Ben Munro, who did the accumulation plan with Mark Tildesley, explained that, normally, his section would person 2 weeks to physique a set; successful immoderate cases connected “F1,” specified arsenic a country filmed astatine the McLaren headquarters, they would person conscionable 12 hours, overnight.

“When you effort to integrate with the existent world, eventual power becomes harder,” Munro said. “And arsenic filmmakers, we’re utilized to being successful eventual control.”

The “F1” squad developed caller cameras to seizure the film’s ultra-realistic high-speed racing.

(Apple TV)

The camera squad excessively had to beryllium adaptable and mobile (no VistaVision here), each portion figuring retired however to seizure footage astatine 180 miles per hr that couldn’t beryllium covered with much than a fewer takes. “First, we had to marque a camera that didn’t beryllium yet,” said Claudio Miranda, the film’s cinematographer.

Miranda, who won an Oscar for “Life of Pi,” worked with Sony to make small, agile “sensor-on-a-stick” cameras with Imax-worthy lenses to spot astir the cars. Coverage became indispensable — determination were 16 camera positions to seizure arsenic overmuch arsenic possible. With some the racing itself and the hoopla astir contention weekend, the accustomed filmmaking mindset simply had to change: “I’m not ever capable to sprout sunset for this shot, oregon backlight for this quarter,” said Miranda, describing his thinking. “We traded each that successful for the realism of the movie. But I deliberation that’s unbeatable.”

Other than a fewer spinouts (and a stray Brad Pitt instrumentality ruining a changeable to get a selfie), the accumulation was miraculously accident-free, contempt taking astir 2 years to film. That whitethorn beryllium owed successful portion to the information that, if you squint, it turns retired that a movie unit is akin capable to an F1 squad to acceptable close in.

“Everyone had to beryllium prepared for those nine-minute sprout windows successful the aforesaid mode that you’d person to beryllium acceptable for a pit stop,” Kosinski said. “There was a truly absorbing kinship. And we truly did consciousness similar the 11th squad aft spending 2 seasons with them.”

The infinitesimal that sticks with Miranda is from the extremity of the production, successful Abu Dhabi, erstwhile each the existent F1 teams got their cars retired for 1 expansive country unneurotic — a million-dollar setup, to undersell it by a fewer digits. “In the beginning, it did consciousness similar we were this annoying small buzzard,” Miranda said. “I deliberation that’s wherefore I got truly affectional erstwhile everyone wanted to assistance america retired successful the last contention and bring the cars out. Because it felt like, astatine the end, we were benignant of loved.”