If there is something more unpredictable than London rains, then it is the 2025 F1 season. With rookies flooding the grid and seasoned veterans switching teams like musical chairs, the adrenaline is not just from speed—it is from the sheer drama. While this season saw not one, but many switch-ups, the one that affected fans the most was of Smooth Operator Carlos Sainz getting replaced by 7-time world champion (we will call him an 8-time champion) Lewis Hamilton in Ferrari. But while the F1 fashionista wrestles with form and reliability under the Prancing Horse banner, it is his Hollywood venture that has spun out even harder. The much-hyped F1 film starring Brad Pitt, and co-produced by Hamilton, has fallen spectacularly short of expectations—ironically, just as Sainz had warned.

What was billed as an upgrade for Hamilton and a golden shot at one last title has turned into a bumpy ride—literally. With new gremlins plaguing him each weekend, that elusive podium is still out of reach. And off-track, the cameras are not doing him any favours either. Brad Pitt’s F1, one of the most hyped-up releases of the year, has stalled dramatically at lights out. As Hamilton battles both mechanical woes and box office blues, it is Sainz who is having the last laugh. What did Sainz predict, and why does the recent sports flick miss the mark?

Carlos Sainz predicted F1’s crash earlier than anyone else

Carlos Sainz is the jack of many trades, and one of them is being candid and straightforward. So when Lewis Hamilton hosted a private screening for all F1 drivers, he was quick to comment how, though he enjoyed it, the film is ‘Hollywood-esque.’ He compared it to Netflix’s Drive to Survive, which has often been criticized for its dramatic edits, enough to give fans the ick. However, this is not all he had to say.

At the NYC world premiere of the flick on June 25, Sainz did what he is best at: being brutally honest. When asked about how the film was for him, he warned fans to “be open-minded to Hollywood films!”. What Sainz said might be something all drivers agree to, but it seems that his warning has seeped in for hardcore fans as well, who could spot the exaggerated action, unnecessary love angles, and most importantly, a weak storyline.

The promotions advocated taking major opinions from Lewis Hamilton to be accurate to the sport, and yet, the film fails badly on all fronts. But why? Here are the 4 reasons!

1. Predictable pit-stop: Sonny Hayes’ comeback is what happened with Lightning McQueen in Cars

With a 7.9 rating on IMDb and the opening scene at the Daytona track with Led Zeppelin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’ as the background score, the expectations from the film are set high. However, 10 minutes into the film and you will get the déjà vu. The film draws parallels to Disney Pixar’s Cars where the once cocky, self-centered McQueen undergoes of heart. Even the way Hayes’ car spun towards the end, with him ultimately finding his silence and winning the Abu Dhabi GP, was so Cars-coded.

Even the arc beats feel lifted straight out of Radiator Springs. Sonny arrives at APXGP like McQueen landed in Carburetor County: both learn humility, appreciate teamwork, and engineer a climactic comeback on the big stage. Instead of Tow Mater and Doc Hudson, you have Kerry Condon’s no-nonsense Kate McKenna and Javier Bardem as the wise team principal, both standing in as narrative bumpers to Sonny’s unchecked arrogance. The predictability of the movie is what made it mediocre, something which even a strong background score, a bombshell album, and IMAX shot visuals could not make up for. 

2. Fast but not smart, as F1 leaves racing IQ in shackles

IMAX visuals with the sound of cars passing by are nothing less than a dream for fans of the sport, and F1 delivers on that. And sadly, just that. Sonny Hayes’ on-off gambit of bashing into rivals, making the track full of debris, to call on safety cars to help APXGP secure points, similar to what happened at the infamous Crashgate incident, was nothing less than ick for fans. With a body like FIA that penalises drivers even for cussing on media interviews, this reality was nothing but an exaggeration. Ask Max Verstappen that!

Not only this, the fact that an ex-driver who left the sport years ago and tried different racing formats over the years, adapted to the changes in just days, is just jarring. And do not get us started on Joshua Pearce’s accident. Though a reference to Alex Peroni’s crash in F3 in 2019, the crash in the film felt as if the 2021 GP was running on F1 physics of 2015-2016. The crash was as if the creators sat down and made a compilation of all the crashes through the years into one season of the movie. The logic is so stretched it skids off the screen.

3. Strong cast, weak characters

Sonny Hayes could learn everything new about F1 in two days, but him dealing with this past trauma from his near-fatal crash, gambling dependence, and failed marriages are dropped like discarded hats. How he overcomes that, finds the sudden silence on the track is not dealt with. Not only this, his teammate, Joshua Peaerce’s character arc, was the weakest in the film. In one scene, he is a self-obsessed rookie, seeing Hayes as a threat, but then suddenly has a team-all mindset. All it took for him was to confess to his mom that he was at fault for his crash. If confessing our wrongdoings to our mothers makes us better people, so much so that we flip just like that, then the world would be a better place.

Apart from this, Technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon), billed as the first female technical director in F1, is reduced to a support act: she only shines when Sonny coaxes her to push car upgrades, and then is shoehorned into romance. She was reduced to nothing but a love interest of Sonny.

4. F1 is not about racing but just romance

From movies on sports, you expect competitiveness, something that was there in Rush. But you cannot expect that from F1 as it focuses on the other ‘R,’ that is, romance, that too forced. The Sonny‑Kate romance pops up unpredictably, with gentle touches, stolen glances, then dissolves into tacked-on banter that slows the narrative. Nobody is denying the chemistry, but it was just another script ‘must have romance’.

Kate’s character was built as a trailblazing engineer, but the film sidelines her into boy-meets-girl territory. And while it was supposed to humanize Sonny, it only bogs down the high-speed pacing.

It was expected to an extent that F1 would be nothing but a flick, just full of Hollywood slop, but not at the expense of logic. While it is good for fans new to the sport and will also pique the interest of a newer audience, it is not meant for hardcore F1 fans. While speed may steal the spotlight, which it even did for the cast, storytelling is what truly wins the race, and in this case, it failed badly on all fronts. While both Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton race against each other to secure a podium, in this case, Sainz steers ahead as his warning was not wrong!

Have you seen the film? Do you think Carlos Sainz was right about the movie’s prediction? Let us know in the comments below.