How to watch F1 in New Zealand
Brad Pitt feels the need for speed in Joseph Kosinski’s racing drama.
Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinki points his camera groundward for another torrid tale of machismo and machines—this time set in the high stakes (and officially licensed) world of Formula One racing.
How to watch F1 in New Zealand
F1 screams into New Zealand cinemas on June 26, 2025.
What is F1 about?
Sonny Hayes is a former Formula One driver, now working as a cab driver in New York City after a horrific crash back in the ’90s scuttled his racing career. He gets a second grasp at glory, though, when the Apex Grand Prix team (APXGP) reaches out and asks him a) to drive for them and b) mentor hotshot rookie Joshua “Noah” Pearce, who’s a bit of a handful. So there’s a nice generational cash brewing there, which will no doubt be the heart of the off-track action. It does sound a bit formulaic, and you can be sure you’ll see that pun a lot when the reviews start hitting.
The cast of F1
Brad Pitt is Sonny Hayes, Formula One driver turned New York City cab driver turned Formula One driver; Damson Idris is Joshua “Noah” Pearce, Sonny’s teammate and main rival; Kerry Condon is APXGP technical director Kate McKenna; Tobias Menzies is Peter Banning, a member of the APXGP board of directors; Kim Bodnia is APXGP team principal Kaspar Molinski; Javier Bardem is Ruben Cervantes, APXGP team owner and Sonny’s friend and former teammate; plus Shea Whigham, Joseph Balderrama, Sarah Niles, Samson Kayo Abdul Salis, Callie Cooke, Will Merrick, and Layne Harper.
And if you know Formula One (and, to be clear, I do not) you may recognise cameos from all 10 teams in the 2023 Formula One season, as they’re all playing themselves. I hear Lewis Hamilton comes across like a young Brando.
F1 trailer
Why we’re excited about F1
Look, Joseph Kosinski has a very particular set of skills, and they largely revolve around depicting men in emotional crisis operating heavy machinery, preferably at high speed (his best work in this area remains Only the Brave, by the way). This is so in his wheelhouse, it’s like he built the wheelhouse by hand one summer while thinking about his fraught but tender relationship with his father. The only risk is that it just devolves into a clumsy brand management exercise for the racing giant. And let’s face it, that’s a not-insignificant risk…
