The F1-based feature film, set to release later this year, seized a prime marketing opportunity with a teaser ad during Super Bowl LIX. With ad slots for the Big Game costing up to $8 million, the Brad Pitt-led F1 will be hoping its 33-second teaser generated enough hype among the North American audience.
While many are talking positively about the action-packed teaser, some errors in the footage have caught the attention of sharp-eyed fans. F1 photojournalist Kym Illman pointed out several on-screen inconsistencies that may perplex hardcore F1 enthusiasts.
Firstly, the teaser is edited using shots from multiple race tracks across the F1 calendar. Illman highlighted how a shot from Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit transitions into another from Budapest’s Hungaroring.
However, the Aussie photographer focused more on a particular detail in the helmet Pitt’s character is wearing in the Hungary shot.
“The visor they are using here is clear,” he stated. “…clear visors are only ever used at night. Typically during the day, they will have some sort of tinting on it.”
This is just the start.
Only in theaters SUMMER 2025.#F1 #F1Movie pic.twitter.com/F4FVnzVORz
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 9, 2025
With the Hungarian GP being a day race and the shot of Pitt driving in Budapest also being shot in daylight, it isn’t accurate that he is using a clear visor helmet. However, Illman understands that the filmmakers have used a clear visor so that audiences can see Pitt’s face and tense expressions in the on-board racing shots they use in the film.
“The movie people have used it because they want you to see Brad’s face and that’s perfectly fine.”
Filmmakers are bound to take such creative liberty to add some presentability to F1’s storyline as a sport being shown to a wider audience on the big screen.
Pitt and Co. striving hard to make the F1 movie a blockbuster
Illman also revealed how the American actor has been working extremely hard on his character and learning how F1 drivers work and behave on and off the track. With the production houses involved — which includes Lewis Hamilton’s company Dawn Apollo Films as well — wanting to make the film as authentic as possible, Pitt had to put in extra effort to learn to drive F1 race cars.
The Aussie photographer got to know from a friend that the Academy Award-winning actor has also put in time on the simulator to get into the grove for handling F1 machinery. While the car he is driving in the film is a modified F2 car actually, Pitt seems to be “a natural”, in terms of driving, be it on the simulator or on the track.
From the footage of two teaser trailers so far, Pitt and Co. have done a good job in keeping the sanctity of F1 as a sport but keeping things realistic besides adding drama to the plot elements. There will be another full-length trailer of around 90 to 120 seconds, which could be the final official trailer for ‘F1’, before its release on June 27th, 2025 in North America.
This is F1. Starring Brad Pitt.
In cinemas Summer 2025.#F1 #F1Movie pic.twitter.com/YQHvqNs5Ir
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 7, 2024
The movie will release in theatres first despite Apple TV+ owning the OTT rights for the project. Warner Bros. is the main distributor for the movie produced by Hamilton, Top Gun producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and Pitt himself, among others.
So, they will ensure that the movie is theatrically released worldwide before making it available on home media and digital. ‘F1’ has been filmed for IMAX, so Warner Bros. will also ensure audiences globally get to witness the roar of F1 racing in the premium format.
