Inside Hollywood’s $200 Million Bet on Formula 1
Hollywood didn’t just make a racing movie — they built a real F1 team, filmed at live races, and spent $200 million doing it. Here’s how Brad Pitt, Apple, and Mercedes pulled it off.
Hollywood and Formula 1 have spent two years (and hundreds of millions of dollars) to create the most ambitious sports film ever produced. Directed by Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Brad Pitt plays a retired F1 driver who returns to the sport to help a back-of-the-grid team get its first win.
What makes this film special is the detail. Over two years of filming, Kosinski’s crew captured footage during actual Grand Prix weekends, collaborated with Mercedes to build custom race cars that passed FIA safety tests, and mounted 6K-resolution cameras inside cockpits — some of which were operated remotely in real-time.
The fictional F1 team at the center of the story even signed real sponsorship deals, generating over $40 million in brand partnerships. At a reported $200 million budget, Kosinski and Pitt’s latest project is one of the most expensive sports movies ever, backed by a unique distribution deal: Apple partnered with Warner Bros. to launch the film globally in theaters before eventually bringing it to Apple TV+ streaming.
In today’s newsletter, we’ll break down all the interesting details — one bullet point at a time. From the tax incentives that trimmed the budget to the film’s cutting-edge camera tech embedded within the cars, we’ll explore how this film blends big money, sports marketing, and movie magic. Whether you're an F1 fanatic or just love the business behind blockbusters, buckle up. This is the story of how Formula 1 is leveraging Hollywood elite to accelerate its next stage of international growth.
Blockbuster Budget: The Formula 1 movie carries a massive price tag. It was initially rumored to cost $300 million, making it one of the top 20 most expensive movies ever. However, the film’s producers disputed that figure, noting that tax rebates for filming in the UK, Europe, and Abu Dhabi (along with sponsorships on the car) significantly offset expenses. The final budget is likely around $200 million, slightly more than what Kosinski spent to produce Top Gun: Maverick.
Sponsors On The Car = Real Money: Similar to real F1 teams, the movie’s fictional team (APXGP) sold advertising space on its car. They generated over $40 million in sponsorship income through deals with Expensify, EA Sports, SharkNinja, Geico, IWC, and Tommy Hilfiger. Expensify’s CEO has called it “one of the best brand placement opportunities ever,” noting that sign-ups for the company’s app have quadrupled after their logo was associated with the movie.
Mercedes Partnership: The Mercedes F1 team was hired on a consulting contract to help with the film. Mercedes designers and engineers helped build the actual cars you will see in the film (more on that in a second), and there is also a scene filmed in the team’s simulator. Given that this is a top-secret area where some employees are not even allowed to visit, Mercedes had to ensure its intellectual property was protected. In addition to a cash payment, Mercedes will also have its logo featured on the front of the car as the fictional team’s official engine provider.
Modified F2 Cars: Rather than using a virtual production studio with prop cars and green screens, the F1 movie built a fleet of custom race cars. They took a real F2 chassis — a slower F1 car with less power and downforce, but still extremely fast — and collaborated with Mercedes engineers and aerodynamicists to design a new carbon-fiber body kit that resembled the latest F1 designs. The black-and-gold single-seater race cars look nearly identical to F1 cars from 2022-23, and each of the 4 to 5 cars passed FIA safety and crash tests. That was important because Brad Pitt and Damson Idris drove the cars (and needed to be insured).
(Brad Pitt during filming at Silverstone Circuit via Dan Mullan/Getty Images) 15 Camera Mounting Positions: The modified F2 cars would have been too heavy with traditional camera equipment, so the Mercedes F1 team incorporated 15 camera mounting points into the car’s design. The production team used only four camera mounts at a time, but this allowed cameras to be attached without major modifications during filming. Wiring for camera recorders, batteries, and transmitters was all built into the chassis. This meant that the race cars could still run at high speeds and handle normally while carrying cameras, avoiding the common issue of movie “camera cars” that look the part but can’t drive fast.
Custom 6K Resolution Cameras: Award-winning cinematographer Claudio Miranda collaborated with Sony and the Mercedes F1 team to design a custom camera rig for this movie. The solution involved separating the camera’s sensor from the main body to create a dramatically smaller version of the Sony Venice cameras that Kosinski used in Top Gun: Maverick. Despite their small size, these miniature digital cameras were equipped with 6K resolution (IMAX-quality).
Remote-Controlled Lenses: A major innovation for this movie was the ability to operate the cameras remotely in real-time. Since the cars were always within a mile of the crew, Kosinski’s team set up shop in the center of the track and placed antennas all the way around. Unlike Top Gun: Maverick, which had tiny cockpit cameras fixed in place, this innovation gave Kosinski the ability to adjust shots on the fly from a control room, providing real-time picture, control, and focus. For instance, the crew was able to replicate wheel-to-wheel racing by starting a shot inside the cockpit before wirelessly panning to catch an overtake in the same take.
Repurposing Real F1 Footage: In some sequences, the film’s production team cleverly merged their material with actual F1 race footage. For example, viewers might notice that a shot of an Apex GP car going through Spa’s famous Eau Rouge is actually real onboard footage from Pierre Gasly’s Alpine during the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix. The crew collaborated with Alpine to replace the car’s standard onboard camera with advanced technology, using components from an iPhone camera, and then digitally inserted the APXGP car in post-production.
Lewis Hamilton as Producer: Looking to accelerate his post-racing career, Lewis Hamilton is a producer on the film through his company, Dawn Apollo Films. But rather than just receiving an Executive Producer credit for promoting the film, early interviews suggest Hamilton was intimately involved. The crew says that Hamilton spent several full days with them to make sure every storyline and shot came off as authentic. That included everything from ensuring the correct tire compounds were used to Hamilton even correcting audio engineering, matching the distinct sound of specific gears to the corresponding spot on the track.
On-Location Filming: The F1 movie’s cast and crew spent two years immersing themselves uniquely in the sport. After receiving sign-off from F1, the FIA, and all ten teams, filming officially began in July 2023 at Silverstone Circuit during the British Grand Prix. The fictional APXGP team had its own garage and even took part in the pre-race grid ceremonies alongside real F1 drivers. Other key filming locations included Hungary, Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium), Monza (Italy), Zandvoort (Netherlands), Suzuka (Japan), Mexico City, Las Vegas, and Abu Dhabi.
Tight Filming Windows: Since the F1 movie was filming footage during live race weekends, the filming windows were often incredibly tight (with no margin for error). Kosinski says they only had nine minutes to film one scene on the starting grid before a race, and George Russell and Charles Leclerc even returned to the podium after a race to film a celebration with Brad Pitt with fans in the crowd.
Experienced Mechanics: British motorsport team Carlin — an acclaimed junior formula team — was hired to help run the APX GP cars on set. They embedded a team of race mechanics, engineers, and technicians within the garage, utilizing tire blankets to preheat tires before on-track filming sessions and even analyzing telemetry data with Pitt and Idris to increase driver efficiency for better lap times.
(Brad Pitt’s garage with Carlin’s mechanics and engineers via Motorsport) Driving School & Stunt Doubles: Pitt and Idris underwent an intensive training program to prepare for driving scenes. They trained for three months in various open-wheel cars, starting with slower Formula 4 and Formula 3 cars to develop their technique, and then graduated to Formula 2 cars once they were comfortable. Pitt and Idris did most of the driving themselves, with the movie employing professional drivers as stunt drivers for crash scenes. Former F2 champion Luciano Bacheta was Pitt’s stunt double and also coached him.
Hollywood Strikes Delay Production: Shortly after filming began at Silverstone in July 2023, the Hollywood actors’ strike (SAG-AFTRA) halted the participation of SAG actors like Pitt and Idris. Rather than shut down filming entirely, Kosinski himself took over second-unit filming, utilizing stunt doubles and body doubles to capture as much content as possible throughout the season. Then, when the strike was over, Pitt and Idris rejoined to film at races the following F1 season.
F1 Drivers on Camera: All ten F1 teams — and all 20 drivers — will appear on screen during the movie. Red Bull was initially hesitant, raising concerns that a Hamilton-produced movie could make the team and its star driver (Max Verstappen) look bad. But Kosinski, Bruckheimer, and Pitt met with every team principal before filming began to reassure them that the film would not portray anyone in a bad light. Instead, the plot is mainly based around a poor-performing team fighting at the back of the grid. The rest of the teams are really just there in the background for legitimacy. Every team eventually signed off, including Ferrari and Mercedes, who initially declined to participate in Netflix’s Drive to Survive.
Apple and Warner Bros Team Up: The F1 movie is an Apple Original Film, but Warner Bros acquired the theatrical distribution rights. This means the film will hit movie theaters worldwide (including IMAX screenings) this week via Warner Bros., with Apple retaining the movie’s streaming rights for Apple TV+ after its theatrical run. Apple has used this same strategy on some of its other original films, including Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon.
High Expectations at the Box Office: After displaying strong pre-sale traction in the wake of its review embargo lift — an 88% fresh score from 104 Rotten Tomatoes critics so far — industry analysts are now expecting F1: The Movie to bring in $60 million to $75 million during its opening weekend, with the total domestic low-end set to $165 million and the high-end set to $250 million. Notably, Shawn Robbins from Box Office Theory says the F1 movie’s pre-sale samples are pacing closely to Tom Cruise’s latest Mission: Impossible movie.
F1’s Next Growth Engine: In early test screenings, only 18% of U.S. audiences had prior knowledge of Formula 1, compared to 50% in the UK. Over 80% of viewers also said they would “definitely recommend” the movie to a friend — a number Bruckheimer says he has never achieved on any of his films and one that could result in even more global growth for a sport currently seeing plenty of it.
"[At the start of the movie] you ask them how many have seen a race, and very few people actually raise their hand compared to the number of people in the theater. When we finish and we ask how many of you would like to go see a race now, literally every single hand goes up," Apple executive Eddy Cue told ESPN.
If you enjoyed this breakdown, share it with your friends.