The Monza Crash F1
The Italian Grand Prix crash at Monza — beat 15 of the 40 Beats (F1) — is F1's inciting rupture. Joshua Pearce ignores Sonny's advice to wait for the main straight, attacks Max Verstappen at turn 11, clips his car, and erupts in flames. Sonny pulls Joshua from the wreckage. The crash sidelines Joshua for three races, fractures the teammate relationship, and forces Sonny to carry the team alone through the film's second act.
Kosinski filmed the crash at Brands Hatch with a pipe ramp and practical fire
The production could not film the crash sequence at Monza itself — SAG-AFTRA scheduling conflicts prevented a return after the initial shoot window. Brands Hatch in Kent doubled for Monza, with the kerbs at turns 6 and 8 repainted to match sections of the Italian circuit.
"We are at Brands Hatch. We're doubling this corner for Monza. Shooting an accident scene for our rookie Joshua Pearce." — Joseph Kosinski, Motorsport.com (2025)
Special effects supervisor Keith Dawson designed a pipe ramp that launched the car at 120 mph to replicate the trajectory of a high-speed barrier impact.
"We talked about replicating the [Alex] Peroni crash and we aim to launch the car 60 to 70 metres to land on the tyre wall into the fence area." — Keith Dawson, Motorsport.com (2025)
Kosinski asked Dawson to increase the launch pressure after the first take, betting on excess over restraint.
"I asked Keith after the first take to crank the pressure up on the launch 'cause I told him it was always better to overachieve than underachieve." — Joseph Kosinski, Motorsport.com (2025)
The Grosjean crash was the direct inspiration
Stunt coordinator Gary Powell cited Romain Grosjean's 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix crash — in which Grosjean's car split in half and burned for 27 seconds before he escaped — as the primary visual and emotional reference.
"The [Romain] Grosjean crash, unfortunate for him, but glad he got out of it was obviously the inspiration behind this." — Gary Powell, Motorsport.com (2025)
Damson Idris prepared for the sequence by speaking directly with Grosjean about the psychological experience of being trapped inside a burning car.
"Had an amazing intimate conversation with Grosjean who had been through a similar crash and he walked me through everything that was going in his mind when he was in a car during that moment." — Damson Idris, Motorsport.com (2025)
"Those were the biggest flames I've ever seen in my life. Brad and I were really in there." — Damson Idris, The Hollywood Reporter (2025)
VFX replaced the Brands Hatch surroundings with digital Monza
Despite the practical filming, the post-production team used vehicle-mounted array scanning captured at Monza to create digital environments that replaced the Brands Hatch backgrounds. The rain that arrives midrace was also digital — wet-down effects and rain added in post. Cameras mounted on the car were digitally removed, the floor of the car was replaced, and the explosion was augmented. (wikipedia)
The crash's structural function: it breaks the team and launches the second half of the film
Before Monza, Sonny and Joshua are rivals sharing a garage. After Monza, Joshua is sidelined and Sonny carries the team alone — leading to Kate's "combat upgrade" and the montage of solo climbs through the grid. The crash also fractures the relationship with Bernadette, who blames Sonny for encouraging recklessness. This blame is not corrected until beat 27, when Joshua confesses the decision was his alone.