Brad Pitt revealed that the plot of F1: The Movie took inspiration from some infamous moments in the championship’s history – notably the 2008 Crashgate scandal that rocked the Singapore Grand Prix and resulted in bans from Formula 1 for several members of the Renault team.
At the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately crashed in order to give an advantage to his team-mate, Fernando Alonso. Team boss Flavio Briatore received a lifetime ban from F1, which has since been overturned, and technical director Pat Symonds was hit with a five-year ban.
The F1 movie, which arrives in theatres globally this week, features multiple plot lines reminiscent of the Crashgate scandal, though there’s no mention of penalty points, let alone bans. Pitt, who plays washed-up former driver Sonny Hayes, said the creative team approached the project with “a lot of love” for F1.
“We drew from a lot of [real-life events]. I mean, you can probably pinpoint them,” he said on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast. “You know, this happened in 1994 and this happened in 2008,” he went on, seemingly alluding to the Renault scandal.
“We were drawing from all of it. We looked a lot at – and I mean this respectfully – Fernando [Alonso],” he continued. “We were a last place team and we needed to play with the rules. We needed to get right to the edge of the rules to be competitive in any way. And that’s where Sonny starts out and is rather disliked because of it.”
As fans will discover when the movie hits the big screen, Pitt’s character makes several intentional errors that trigger a safety car to benefit his team-mate, Joshua Pearce, played by Damson Idris. The filmmakers have made it clear that F1 fans, and eagle-eyed F1 journalists in particular, are not their target audience.
However, Autosport asked the creative team about what they want prospective new fans to take away from the film, which arguably glamorises unsportsmanlike behaviour.
"That’s something we talked to Lewis [Hamilton] about – we never wanted Sonny to cheat," director Joe Kosinski said. "We wanted to find [the limit] for how far you could push it to get right to the edge [of cheating].
“Or, if there’s a driver who’s going to shut the door on you in a corner, which driver has the highest probability of doing that move?” Kosinski added, in reference to Kevin Magnussen, following his driving tactics at the 2024 Miami GP. “It was fun to watch the movie with the drivers in Monaco and have them whisper to each other saying, ‘I knew that was going to happen'.”
Kosinski reiterated that Hamilton, who served a co-producer on the film, signed off on all racing scenes. “We never wanted Sonny to cheat, so figuring out how we go all the way to the line without crossing it was a big challenge,” he said.
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer echoed the sentiment, noting that Hamilton “kept them honest” while developing the script.
“The authenticity is important, but the story is also really important - you have to tell a compelling story that rivets an audience,” Bruckheimer said.
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali also insisted that movie-goers with limited motorsport knowledge won’t take issue with the racing scenes.
“If you look at it from the perspective of the audience that will watch the movie, it will not be perceived like that,” he said. “They will just see racing action and authentic fighting.”
