Does Brad Pitt’s F1 take inspiration from true events? Details revealed

F1 is the story of an ex-Formula One racer who comes out of retirement to mentor a young racer. The film is co-written, co-produced, and directed by Joseph Kosinski.

Here's the official synopsis of the sports drama film as per IMDb:

"A Formula One driver comes out of retirement to mentor and team up with a younger driver."

The film was released on June 27, 2025, after its premiere at London's Radio City Music Hall. While the storyline is fictional, the makers were inspired by real-life events. So let's explore all the details.

Is F1 inspired by true events?

F1 is about Sonny Hayes (played by Brad Pitt), who was a popular Formula One racer in the 1990s but had to retire after sustaining injury during a race.

Esquire has reported that the character has parallels to Martin Donnelly, who is a British driver. In the 1990 Spanish Grand Prix, Donnelly was racing in the qualifiers when his vehicle crashed and he was knocked out for more than ten minutes. The racer sustained fractures in his leg. This injury halted his career, and he eventually became a coach for the drivers.

This mirrors the story of Sonny's arc as he was forced to retire after an injury. The film then gives a different spin to his storyline by making him come out of retirement. In F1's history, there have been multiple such crashes that have impacted careers. One of them is Romain Grosjean, a Swiss-French driver, who also met with an accident on the track, which resulted in a fire explosion. It took him a while, but Grosjean managed to escape the vehicle while suffering from some minor burn injuries.

The rivalry between Sonny and Joshua Pearce in the film also has shades of the rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, who raced in the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix. Alonso came first while Hamilton came second in the race. The two eventually stopped talking to each other, and in 2008, mutually terminated their contract.

Hamilton spoke to Formula One about his real-life rifts bleeding into the film. He said,

"For racing drivers, it’s important to work as a team but ultimately every other driver on track is your competition – even your team mate. So, there’s a real fine line and I think you get to see that play out between these two characters played by Brad and Damson."

The producers of F1 include Hamilton, Brad Pitt, Joseph Kosinski, Chad Oman, Jerry Bruckheimer, and Dede Gardner. The film features Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem, and Tobias Menzies among others.

Kosinski spoke to The Playlist about giving an authentic feel to the film. He said,

“In order to get Brad and Damson into these race cars for the filming, it required months, literally months of training. I’ll never forget having Lewis Hamilton as your driving instructor, but what we learned and what Lewis was really interested in was seeing whether Brad knew how to drive right? Because if Brad can’t drive, this whole film wouldn’t work. And Lewis was pleased to discover that Brad had a lot of just natural ability right from the start.”

F1 released theatrically on June 27, 2025.