‘F1’ Trailer: Brad Pitt and Damson Idris Electrify the Racing Circuit in Heart-Pounding New Footage

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Get ready to rev up! Brad Pitt makes a thunderous entrance on the racing circuit, poised for the silver screen, in the latest sneak peek of “F1,” a movie helmed by director Joseph Kosinski, who’s also known for “Top Gun: Maverick.

In this film produced by Apple Originals, Brad Pitt portrays Sonny Hayes, a former Formula 1 racer who was once labeled as “the greatest driver that never became one.” The trailer presents him in this manner. Javier Bardem assumes the role of the owner of an underdog racing team, who persuades Sonny to rejoin the sport and collaborate with and mentor newcomer Joshua Pearce, played by Damson Idris. Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, Sarah Niles, Kim Bodnia, and Samson Kayo complete the star-studded cast.

In this trailer, Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” serves as the soundtrack, creating an experience that is both emotionally intense and exhilarating, placing viewers in the driving seats of Pitt and Idris’ race cars – similar to how “Top Gun: Maverick” immersed audiences within a fighter jet’s cockpit. The risks are just as significant whether on the ground or at altitudes of tens of thousands of feet: success brings recognition from the racing community, while failure validates the critics’ doubts.

It’s not making things easier between us that Sonny and I have mutual doubts about each other’s abilities. Just before we step onto the track, our conversation veers towards our past victories in racing, stirring up old rivalries.

“Sunday. Daytona,” Pitt’s Sonny declares, over footage of him winning the stock car contest.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I meant Formula 1,” Joshua fires back smugly.

Sonny chuckles: “Oh, I’m sorry. Then, same as you.”

Touché. And with that tense relationship established, it’s off to the races.

At an online news event led by UK television host Edith Bowman, Kosinski talked about the creation of the movie. He revealed his newfound enthusiasm for Formula 1 racing, which stemmed from watching the “Drive to Survive” series on Netflix while at home during the COVID period.

As a passionate cinephile, I found myself captivated by the way the first season of this series centered on the lesser-known teams, the underdogs, instead of the usual front-runners like Ferrari, Mercedes, or Red Bull. It was refreshing to witness an untold tale about an underdog team striving not for a championship victory, but merely to conquer a single race against these giants of the sport.

Kosinski managed to connect with seven-time Formula 1 champion, Lewis Hamilton, who generously shared his perspective of the world with him. In turn, Hamilton agreed to oversee the production of the movie under his production company, Dawn Apollo Films.

A key aim was to depict the thrilling pace of the sport, and indeed, both Kosinski and Hamilton affirmed that Pitt and Idris reached speeds exceeding 180 mph during the film’s racing scenes. As Kosinski stated, “Each weekend was a rush of adrenaline, but what we managed to capture can’t be faked.” Mercedes played a crucial role in helping Kosinski create a vehicle capable of such high speed.

In essence, we purchased six genuine Formula 2 racing cars and collaborated with Mercedes AMG’s Formula 1 team and their engineers to construct vehicles suitable for our filming equipment – cameras, recorders, and transmitters. Consequently, when you observe Brad or Damson driving in the movie, they are genuinely behind the wheel of one of these actual race cars on a real F1 track. This means that whenever Brad is driving, it’s not an act; he’s truly focused on maintaining control of the car and avoiding collisions.

Of course, training the actors took months, but Pitt had natural ability right from the start.

Kosinski commented on his leading actor’s driving skills, stating, “I’m unsure if he learned them or if they were innate talents.” He added, “He’s proficient in motorcycles, which may play a role. However, he’s incredibly talented and naturally skilled as a driver… this ability boosted Lewis’s confidence that we could successfully pull it off.

The movie journeys around the globe’s Formula 1 race tracks, starting at Silverstone and concluding in Abu Dhabi, with stops along the way in places like Las Vegas. Before filming, Kosinski attended every race on each track across the world.

He pointed out that each scene carries a unique identity and essence. Since they genuinely visited all these locations, watching the film feels like embarking on a global journey.

Instead, Kosinski was limited to filming prior to the official race, thus the team worked during practice and qualifying sessions.

The filmmaker described how they had brief periods, ranging from 10 to 15 minutes, during which Brad and Damson needed to be prepared and their cars warmed up with hot tires, ready to race. As soon as practice ended, they would drive onto the track. With 24 to 30 cameras primed and recording, I had to capture these scenes in quick, intense, high-speed intervals. The crowd you see was genuine, though I don’t think they were aware that Brad Pitt was actually in the car right in front of them.

Regarding the technological aspect, Sony specifically designed cameras for the movie production. Collaborating closely with the team, Kosinski and cinematographer Claudio Miranda partnered with the company to develop compact cameras capable of capturing the exhilarating fast-paced action of car races.

During our filming process, I was responsible for operating and adjusting the cameras – a task we couldn’t perform on ‘Top Gun.’ To facilitate this, we’ve equipped our vehicle with motorized mounts. This means that we have transmitters sending images back to us, while other transmitters control the camera movements. I work at the base station alongside Claudio, monitoring 16 screens.

Apart from interacting with the actors during the filming process, Kosinski mentioned that communication could be challenging due to the loud environment. “It was tough to make out what they were saying because they had a 700-horsepower engine just behind their ear,” Kosinski noted. Instead of instructing Pitt to speed up, Kosinski humorously suggested the opposite: “Could you possibly slow down, Brad?

Regarding the topic of music, it’s worth mentioning that we welcomed back another team member, Hans Zimmer, who is known for his work on “Top Gun: Maverick”.

Konsinki expressed great anticipation about the music in this movie, saying, ‘I can’t wait for people to listen to it.’ He praised Hans Zimmer, who possesses a unique ability among few composers, ‘to compose a genuine theme, a memorable melody that lingers long after hearing it.’

Warner Bros. will release the movie starting from June 25 internationally, with a premiere in North American theaters and IMAX screens scheduled for June 27.

Watch the trailer below:

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2025-03-13 22:18