Brad Pitt's F1 movie: Why Abu Dhabi was the perfect finish line

The Brad Pitt summer blockbuster, out in the UAE cinemas now, may be sleek, star-powered and dripping in sponsor gloss, but underneath its polished surface, it pulses with emotion, grit, and a reverence for comebacks.

This isn’t just a racing movie. It’s a redemption story dressed in fireproof suits. Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a once-great Formula One driver pulled back into the sport clearly with unfinished business of his own. He’s older, bruised by the past, and just self-aware enough to know he’s being written off. And yet, he shows up. That quiet defiance is at the film’s core.

So I went straight in — to the line that stuck with me long after the credits rolled: “It’s not for the money.” That moment lands early in the film, but it says everything about the man behind the wheel. And, as I soon learned, it said a lot about the men behind the movie too.

“Yeah, no, I do this job because I love it,” said Kosinski who knows his way around scale and speed thanks to Top Gun: Maverick and Tron: Legacy, didn’t miss a beat.

“I make films about subjects that I’m interested in. Yeah, it's all about passion… it took almost four years from the initial idea to where we are now. So, yeah, you have to love what you do. And it doesn't feel like work, you know, at all. It's great.”

And then there’s Jerry Bruckheimer — a name that’s practically a genre unto itself. With a résumé that spans Pirates of the Caribbean, The Rock, Top Gun, National Treasure, Bad Boys, and more, he has defined blockbuster cinema for decades. His response was pure Bruckheimer: grounded, direct, and razor-sharp.

“Listen... you’ve got to love what you do. The money is an added bonus. But if you love what you do, you work really hard, and the money is not as meaningful if you do something you hate…”

Their words echoed what plays out on screen. As I wrote in my review, Pitt “carries the weight of regret and unrealised greatness with ease.” Sonny isn’t the shiny new recruit. He’s the guy who once had it all and lost it. The guy who knows exactly how it feels to be underestimated — and isn’t done fighting just yet.

That quiet fight — the refusal to go quietly — isn’t airbrushed or romanticised. It’s right there in the way the film talks about Sonny’s age. And yes, the jabs about it are intentional. After all, this is a film where Brad Pitt — dishy as ever and ageing like a finely tuned V12 engine at 62 — gets lovingly (and a bit savagely) referred to as "Uncle Sonny".

“We had to address it head-on,” said Kosinski. “Brad is older than the oldest driver on the grid. I mean, Kimi Antonelli [Italian F1 racing drivefr], I think, is 17 years old or 18 years old. So, yeah, that was something that we had to address and made it a really kind of important part of the story… just to have everyone against him and not believe in him was an important element of this story.”

It works. The discomfort, the jokes, the generational tension — it’s all baked in. And as an audience member, you’re invited to root for the man being doubted, not despite his age, but because of it.

And then there’s the final race — set in Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit — which delivers both visual spectacle and emotional payoff. It’s the only location in the film that doesn’t just serve the plot but gives it a sense of closure. As someone based in the UAE, I was genuinely pleased to see the city treated with style and sincerity, not as a backdrop for a jet-setting montage.

“It’s a spectacular location,” said Kosinski. “It’s so beautiful… and it had a completely different feel than any other race during the season, which was important to me. I think it was the perfect place to end this story. We had an incredible time filming there — we were there for almost four weeks filming that sequence.”

Bruckheimer echoed that. “We wanted to make sure that we were authentic to the sport of F1. That’s the last race in the season, so we figured that would be the best place to have Sonny get one win. They were very helpful… so supportive of us making the movie there, and they made it very easy to film.”

Authenticity, it turns out, is a recurring theme — not just in performance or storytelling, but even in the branding you see splashed across every frame. In my review, I didn’t shy away from it: the product placements in F1 are loud and proud. At times, it feels like a turbo-charged fashion campaign. Is that the future for big Hollywood blockbuster materials?

But when I brought that up, the response was unflinching.

“That’s the sport, you know — that is F1,” Kosinski said.

“So we had to embrace the reality. Obviously, it’s expensive to run all those cars on the track… we actually got real sponsors for the Apex car for the movie, which was incredible. We wanted the film to be as authentic as possible.”

Bruckheimer was even more direct. “When you look at the real cars in F1, they’re plastered with advertisement. That’s just the way it is. So to be authentic to the sport, you have to do the same thing. We can’t have our car with nothing on it while all the other cars have logos.”

Their clarity about it — no defensiveness, no PR spin — mirrors the tone of the film itself. F1 isn’t pretending to be anything it’s not. It’s proud of its polish. It leans into the spectacle. But it also leaves room for quiet character moments, and the kind of emotional realism you don’t always expect in a film built around speed.

One of the most viral moments from production wasn’t even in the film — it was that now-iconic image of Tom Cruise showing up trackside to support Brad Pitt. Two stars. One racetrack. No red carpet. Just mutual respect.

I asked what keeps actors like Cruise and Pitt still standing tall at the top after all these years.

“It’s the choice of material that they decide to work on and to make, and also, they’re brilliant actors,” Bruckheimer said. “You got to be great at what you do to be a star this long… they immerse themselves in their movies. Everything they do is in service of their work.”

Kosinski added, “They’re more similar than people realise — in their work ethic, their approach, and their desire to entertain the audience. They really give it all every day and never stop kind of improving and pushing, even though they could both, you know, be retired and relax. They love what they do, like we do. And I think that really shows.”

And it does. F1 might be polished, predictable, and product-heavy — but it’s also deeply human. It’s about a man who knows what it’s like to be counted out, and still shows up to drive.

As I said in my review: “F1 is predictable. It’s polished. But it’s also wicked fun.”

And sometimes, the finish line isn’t just crossed — it’s lit by glittering Abu Dhabi skyline.