©Courtesy of Apple Original Films / Warner Bros.

Despite being mesmerized by the way ”Top Gun: Maverick”was shot, I was skeptical about how Joseph Kosinski would shoot Formula One aka “F1”. Growing up, I witnessed the adrenaline-fueled F1 races and understood that using green screen or CGI was not an option to capture the loudness of 10,000 audiences, the danger of speed in a matter of seconds, and the challenge of capturing with high resolution.

But to my relief, they hired Lewis Hamilton, the greatest F1 driver, to take us in the cars of Brad Pitt and Damson Idris. He not only taught Pitt and Idris how to drive, but also he was involved from the script stage to use the appropriate technical terms for mechanics and comprehend their capabilities.

On the truck, we see Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), who is enchanted by fast cars and has a simple life, is also a professional gambler who employs speed demons, his home is a van that he uses to travel to various races, one day, after winning the Daytona, Sonny had reservations about returning to Formula 1 and driving for APXGP, a team that is barely able to compete against Ferrari and Mercedes, but Ruben (Javier Bardem) persuaded him to do so. JP(played by Damson Idris) ’s cocky arrogance is challenged by Sonny who smiles and wags his tail, challenging him to a circuit timing race, JP insists that the ‘old man’ is a ‘asshole,’ but his mother Bernadette (played by Sarah Niles, TV’s ‘Ted Lasso’) overpowers him when she witnesses the new driver.

©Courtesy of Apple Original Films / Warner Bros.

About thirty years ago, Sonny was a skilled Formula 1 racer, as evidenced in a grainy video clip of a younger Pitt with a golden hair, however, his dreams were cut short by a near-fatal accident while attempting to surpass three-time Formula 1 world champion Ayrton Senna, the engine sound still echoes with the legend of Formula One, which is a great tribute to his untimely death.

For those who are not racing fans, the amount of time spent on track may be too much, and they must learn the nuances of their strategy, pit lane dramas, or even drag reduction system based on context clues, but the stellar cast’s engaging performance and the camera’s position in a driver’s seat make some of the angles so immersive that even some of long time F1 fans would be astonished by adrenaline-driven sequences.

What makes this film so captivating is that the fictitious APXGP team was integrated into the actual Formula 1 race track, with its own two garages and the capacity to film on actual Grand Prix race tracks during live events during ‘white spaces’. They even had a sequence in the “Media Pen”( where the drivers and team principals speak to TV and print media at various times across the race), so the crew members of the film spent time in the media pen to capture Pitt and Idris, while real drivers were also given interviews to the media. Even though race car was modified F2 car made it look like F1 car, but those are modified by Mercedes technology division that you can’t really tell, that’s how authentic this film was.

©Courtesy of Apple Original Films / Warner Bros.

Under Lewis Hamilton supervision, Pitt and Idris 4 months of training, hitting speeds up 180 mph for an hour, they have to put up with 5G(The G-force applied at the apex of a corner is in excess of 5G, or more than five times the pressure of his own body weight), it’s magical and impressive when Pitt and Idris have just 10-15 minutes to shoot on the real truck with real audiences during the race weekend.

The collaboration between director Joseph Kosinski and Ehren Kruger, the screenwriter of “Top Gun: Maverick“, resulted in the same energy, such as macho competition between older and younger individuals and camaraderie among crews or teams, despite having a love interest, Kate (Kerry Condon, ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’), who was a female technical director, there are still no women technical directors at the real F1 circuit yet. Sonny’s unorthodox track strategy and life, involving multiple personal and business relationships, are portrayed in this film, and it ends like a victory lap on top of a visceral experience on your seat. A the end, the film definitely garnered the pole position for the technical department for the Oscar nod.

©Courtesy of Apple Original Films / Warner Bros.

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Here’s the trailer of the film.