Production History (F1) F1
The production of F1 (2025) was unprecedented in film history: a major Hollywood feature embedded inside live Formula One race weekends across two full seasons, with actors driving modified race cars on real circuits at racing speeds. The result was a 155-minute film that required 5,000 hours of footage, 2,500 visual effects shots, and a production budget estimated at $200-300 million.
A bidding war launched the project in December 2021
On December 3, 2021, a bidding war broke out among Paramount, MGM, Sony, Universal, Disney, Netflix, Apple, and Amazon for an untitled Formula One racing film. Brad Pitt signed for $30 million. Joseph Kosinski would direct from a screenplay by Ehren Kruger — the same core team behind Top Gun: Maverick (2022), with producer Jerry Bruckheimer completing the reunion. Apple acquired distribution rights in June 2022 for $130-140 million before above-the-line compensation. (wikipedia)
"I pitched the philosophy of the film and how I wanted to make it in the most authentic way possible, and that required their participation." — Joseph Kosinski, The Hollywood Reporter (2025)
Lewis Hamilton served as both producer and actor, providing the filmmakers' entry point into the sport. Kosinski attended the 2021 Austin Grand Prix at Hamilton's invitation, exploring the Mercedes garage and watching the team build a car.
"I knew Lewis was a film lover. He invited me to Austin. I stood there while they put the car together." — Joseph Kosinski, Screen Rant (2025)
Ehren Kruger wrote the screenplay from an evolving concept
Kruger received sole screenplay credit, with story credit shared with Kosinski. Four additional writers — Jez Butterworth, Kara Smith, Aaron Sorkin, and Christopher Storer — earned "Additional Literary Material" credits. The story went through substantial evolution during development.
"There was an early version where Sonny wasn't driving right away and he was the team principal. But as we got further into the development, it became clear that the most cinematic version of the story was to put him back in the car." — Ehren Kruger, The Hollywood Reporter (2025)
"By the end of the first month I felt I was writing a story that was as much about NASA engineering as it was about two drivers competing." — Ehren Kruger, The Hollywood Reporter (2025)
Six modified F2 cars became the APXGP machines
Mercedes Applied Science and Carlin Motorsport created modified Dallara F2 2018 chassis with F1 aerodynamic packages — six visually identical versions powered by Mecachrome V634 or GP3 V6 engines, plus one electric motor variant for pit lane shots. Six additional remote-controlled chassis were built for crash sequences. Toto Wolff, the Mercedes Team Principal, suggested the approach of starting with real race cars rather than modifying standard movie vehicles. (wikipedia)
"We had to convince the insurance company that the faster you go, the safer it is, because you need that downforce." — Jerry Bruckheimer, The Hollywood Reporter (2025)
Apple designed custom cameras that shrank to a quarter of Top Gun's size
Cinematographer Claudio Miranda and Kosinski developed a camera system building on the Top Gun: Maverick experience. On Top Gun, they used six fixed camera positions inside the cockpit. For F1, they designed 16 different mounting positions with four running simultaneously, using a Sony prototype internally codenamed "Carmen" — equivalent to the Venice camera from Top Gun but shrunk to roughly one-third the size. Apple's iPhone technology, powered by A-series processors, formed the basis for the custom onboard cameras, with Sony assisting on miniaturization and Panavision designing remote-controlled panning mounts. (formula1.com, wikipedia)
"We had to make sure we weren't interfering in any of their normal activity." — Claudio Miranda, The Hollywood Reporter (2025)
"We also had to make sure Safety was happy with it, so if there is an accident, it all crumples up safely." — Claudio Miranda, The Hollywood Reporter (2025)
Kosinski directed from a base station alongside Miranda, monitoring 16 screens simultaneously and calling live camera moves while cars circled the track.
"There was a year and a half of preparation, and R&D, to kind of figure out how to pull it off." — Joseph Kosinski, Screen Rant (2025)
The actors drove the cars themselves — no stunt doubles in the cockpit
Pitt and Idris trained at Paul Ricard in France, starting in Formula Three cars and progressing to the modified F2 machines. Hamilton personally guided their training.
"Lewis took them around the track, too, and showed them what and how to do it, and gave them exercises for their necks." — Jerry Bruckheimer, The Hollywood Reporter (2025)
The panning camera mounts allowed Kosinski to prove the actors were alone in the cars — no passenger seat, no stunt driver. The camera could pan to show the empty car around the driver. (motorsport.com)
Principal photography began at Silverstone in July 2023 and extended across two full F1 seasons
Filming started at the Silverstone Circuit during the 2023 British Grand Prix weekend (July 7-9). The APXGP team had its own dedicated garage space and motorhome in the paddock, functioning as a fictional eleventh team embedded within the real grid. Pitt participated in the drivers' briefing and stood with real drivers during the national anthem; the APXGP cars joined the formation lap with stunt drivers.
"We entered the sport in the best possible position to be in to succeed, and we wanted to make it real and realistic." — Jerry Bruckheimer, Screen Rant (2025)
The SAG-AFTRA strike, which began the week after the Silverstone shoot, forced the production to extend across the 2024 season to capture missed Grand Prix weekends. Circuits used for filming included Silverstone, Hungaroring, Spa-Francorchamps, Monza, Zandvoort, Suzuka, Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Las Vegas Strip Circuit, Yas Marina, and Brands Hatch (standing in for Jerez and the Italian Grand Prix crash).
"It was cold, the tires were cold, it was slippery... that kind of pressure was high pressure for sure." — Joseph Kosinski, on filming at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, Screen Rant (2025)
Driving sequences were typically captured in the early hours, around 3:00 a.m. local time, during Grand Prix weekends. A camera-mounted Lola B2K/10 served as the filming chase car but failed mechanically by Hungary; one of the GP3-engined APXGP cars took over camera duties. (wikipedia)
At the 2024 24 Hours of Daytona, the Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R and Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 ran "Chip Hart Racing" fictional team liveries for the opening sequence. Real-world facilities doubled for APXGP headquarters: McLaren Technology Centre for the team base, Williams for the wind tunnel, and Mercedes' Brackley headquarters for simulator scenes. (wikipedia)
Production designer Ben Munro built a garage that could go up in nine days
"By the time he and his team got to Abu Dhabi, they could construct it in nine days." — Ben Munro, The Hollywood Reporter (2025)
"We would look at the back of their garage, which is where the real information is. We had to sign NDAs with all the teams." — Ben Munro, The Hollywood Reporter (2025)
2,500 VFX shots replaced real F1 cars with fictional APXGP liveries
VFX supervisor Ryan Tudhope used techniques from Top Gun: Maverick to re-skin real F1 cars captured during actual Grands Prix, replacing them with fictional APXGP black-and-gold liveries. Framestore provided services through Montreal, London, and Mumbai studios.
The SAG-AFTRA strike prevented cast filming during Monza's initial scheduled shoot, and subsequent scheduling conflicts prevented a return. The production filmed all Monza cast scenes at Silverstone instead, using vehicle-mounted array scanning from Italy to create digital Monza environments that replaced the Silverstone backgrounds in post-production. (wikipedia)
Editor Stephen Mirrione worked through 5,000 hours of footage
"5,000 hours of footage... I'd be very surprised if I ever worked on something with this amount of material again." — Stephen Mirrione, The Hollywood Reporter (2025)
"This is definitely the most complicated, most ambitious film I've done." — Joseph Kosinski, The Hollywood Reporter (2025)
The budget debate: $200 million or $300 million?
The film's budget became a subject of industry debate. Matthew Belloni reported $300 million in May 2024; Bruckheimer and Kosinski disputed the figure, citing rebates and sponsorships that reduced the effective cost. Industry sources settled on a range of $200-300 million ahead of release, with Apple typically investing $200 million per picture. Sponsorship revenue reached at least $40 million according to Forbes, with brands including Expensify, GEICO, SharkNinja, MSC Cruises, EA Sports, IWC Schaffhausen, and Tommy Hilfiger appearing on APXGP cars and merchandise. (wikipedia)