Formula 1 is full of brilliant women, but you won't find them in Brad Pitt's latest film.

Brad Pitt's new Formula 1 movie had everything going for it.

A juicy, high-octane premise. Real-life race footage. Backing from Apple, a cast stacked with Oscar winners, rising stars and a pit lane full of real F1 legends. A glitzy, globe-trotting press tour, complete with slo-mo garage shots, dramatic teasers and Brad Pitt turning up in outfits that screamed "retired rockstar lost in the Paddock". 

The hype was loud. That velvet suit was louder.

And yet, somehow, F1 still manages to crash and burn — especially when it comes to women.

Watch: The F1 trailer. Post continues below.

Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a former F1 star dragged out of retirement to help save a struggling team (because nothing says "race-winning strategy" like putting a 60-year-old man behind the wheel, right?). There's a rookie driver, a comeback arc, an attempted redemptive journey and plenty of fictionalised drama set against the backdrop of one of the most elite sports in the world.

There's no denying the action delivers. The race scenes are slick, the stunts will make you audibly gasp and the cockpit shots genuinely make you feel as though you're strapped into a multi-million-dollar rocket. And for any Formula 1 fan (this one included), seeing real drivers, Team Principals and commentators pop up on screen? It's a total treat.

The problem? The only real fiction here is the part where any of the plot makes sense.

Who needs talent when you have vibes? Image: Universal Pictures

Formula 1 is a sport defined by precision and strategy. Every split-second call is backed by data, science, and a pit wall of highly trained specialists. But in this film? Apparently, the sport runs on Brad Pitt's pure, unfiltered masculine vibes. 

His character swans through the Paddock, making rogue calls, ignoring engineers, and behaving like every Grand Prix exists purely for his personal redemption arc. The fantasy isn't the racing — it's the idea that one man could show up and single handedly "fix" a Formula 1 team. Even by F1 driver standards, the ego is... ambitious.

But as bad as the realism is, the treatment of women is somehow worse.

The female characters (all two and a half of them) are barely more than scribbles. One's flustered. One's fuelled entirely by jealous rage. And one — Simone Ashley, no less — was cast, filmed, did press and then got fully cut from the final edit. Not just trimmed. Deleted.

The ones who did survive the chopping block feel like they wandered in from a forgotten 2005 rom-com — all chaos, zero credibility. They flirt mid-debrief. They botch basic tasks. They spend entire scenes panicking, pouting, or staring wide-eyed at men in fireproof suits.

They're not just underwritten — they're embarrassingly outdated. All trope, no texture. At no point are they portrayed as competent, let alone excellent, which, in the real F1 world, they'd absolutely have to be. Because unlike this script, the sport doesn't hand out grid passes for being quirky, overwhelmed or acting like a liability wearing lipstick. 

The portrayal of women in the film leaves much to be desired. Image: Universal Pictures

Yes, there's no denying that Formula 1 does have a woman problem. Still. There are too few of them in the garages, at the strategy table, in the factories and certainly not nearly enough of them behind the wheel.

But the ones who are there? They're not eye candy or emotional support. They're experts. Analysts. Engineers. Broadcasters. Women who most likely had to work twice as hard to receive half the credit. Women who know this sport inside-out and aren't there to be reduced to sidekicks, distractions, or predictable romantic subplots.

Brad Pitt's F1 doesn't just ignore them. It actively undermines them.

Which is especially galling when you consider how visible — and obsessed — the F1 fanbase is today. Between Drive to Survive, team YouTube channels, TikTok explainers and 20-plus races a year beamed live into our living rooms, we're not short on access. Viewers know the teams. They know the rules. They've memorised tyre compounds, DRS zones, mid-season driver swaps, and which Team Principal is quietly feuding with whom.

They know when something's off — and this movie feels off from the moment it's "lights out and away we go."

It's out of step with the sport. Out of touch with the audience. And it's a missed opportunity to reflect the way Formula 1 is finally (albeit slowly) evolving.

Laura Mueller is the first female race engineer in F1's history, but you won't find a single character like her in the movie. Image: Getty

The truth is, Formula 1 doesn't need a Hollywood hero. It needs more women on the grid. More stories from inside the garages. More of what's real — and far less of this over-revved, macho fantasy that feels like it was dreamed up somewhere between 2003 and a midlife crisis.

If you're a casual viewer chasing fast cars and familiar faces, sure — you might enjoy the ride. But if you came for depth, realism, or even a flicker of respect for the women in motorsport? Keep it moving.

Because real F1 already delivers. Max and Lando. George and his mirror. Charles Leclerc and the eternal chaos that is the Ferrari team strategy. And behind the scenes? Women running comms, crunching data, calling strategy — no dramatic monologue required.

The girl power is there. On the pit wall. In the paddock. On the mic. We see you. This film just... doesn't.

Final verdict? Formula 1 isn't perfect — but this movie is one giant red flag. And not the kind you want waving on track.

Box box. We're done here.