Brad Pitt’s F1 Ride: A Maverick on Four Wheels
Here’s the new flex: Brad Pitt channels Maverick vibes behind the wheel in F1. Picture the actor, helmet on, tearing through Monaco’s streets at breakneck speed—a laid-back wink to Top Gun: Maverick that never feels overcooked. Directed by Joseph Kosinski and shot with IMAX cameras, F1 is all about visceral racing sequences and minimal CGI, and honestly, it mostly delivers.
Plotwise, Pitt plays Jack “Jet” Harper, a retired F1 champ coaxed back to the circuit for one last trophy run. He’s haunted by a past crash that cost him everything—team, reputation, even his sense of self—and now he’s mentoring rookie driver Sam Anders (Domhnall Gleeson), a hotshot whose only real problem is believing in himself. It’s the classic veteran-meets-young-gun formula, but the real draw is Kosinski’s commitment to authenticity: car-mounted cameras capture every gear shift, sweat-soaked visor wipe and blazing overtaking maneuver with teeth-rattling clarity.
According to Variety, real F1 tracks in Silverstone and Monza were closed for weeks so Kosinski could mount custom rigs on live cars, and sources at The Hollywood Reporter confirm that Pitt logged dozens of actual laps in a 2022-spec machine under the supervision of ex-driver Mark Webber. Score by Hans Zimmer throbs like an engine at full throttle, while Claudio Miranda’s cinematography coats every frame in hyper-real detail.
Critics have mixed takes: some praise the film’s pulse-pounding stunts and Pitt’s effortlessly cool aura, while others (see Variety’s review) call the storyline “predictable rubber-burn” with cardboard characters. Still, there’s no denying the visceral thrill of watching a real F1 car rocket from zero to 200 mph in seconds—and Pitt sells that adrenaline mix with casual swagger.
Supporting cast members Michelle Rodriguez (as the team engineer who keeps Jet’s ride on the track) and Nicholas Hoult (as a rival driver) add just enough spice to prevent total predictability, though you’ll need to suspend disbelief for a few plot twists. Box office gurus predict a strong summer debut—early estimates from Deadline peg opening weekend around $50 million—proof that audiences are hungry for a racing spectacle that actually feels earned.
F1 isn’t reinventing the wheel, but it does make that wheel spin look incredible. It’s the kind of blockbuster you watch for the stunts, the star power and the occasional human moment—no deep existential pit stops required. Anyway, that’s the lap. Do what you will with that.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and Variety, The Hollywood Reporter
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
