Grand Prix

F1 The Movie Celebrated With Four Oscar Nominations

The film starring Brad Pitt and Damson Idris is up for the iconic Best Picture category.
Ewan Gale|
IMAGO / Jan Huebner

The F1 movie has received four Academy Award nominations following a blockbuster release.

The film, starring Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, and Javier Bardem, was much anticipated when announced and was just as well-received upon release in June 2025.

Produced by Lewis Hamilton and Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Joseph Kosinski, F1: The Movie grossed over $630 million to become the ninth-biggest box office hit of the year and marked Apple's first collaboration with the sport before it was announced that the technology giant was to acquire broadcasting rights in the United States from 2026 onwards.

The film has been nominated in four categories: Visual Effects, Sound, Film Editing and the prestigious Best Picture.

It faces stiff competition in the Best Picture category, however, coming up against Bugonia, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, Train Dreams and the heavily nominated Sinners.

The Film Editing prize will be fought against Marty Supreme, Sentimental Value, One Battle After Another, and Sinners, while the latter two are also up for the Sound gong, along with Sirât and Frankenstein.

F1 and Sinners are again against each other in the Visual Effects category, along with Avatar: Fire and Ash, Jurassic World Rebirth, The Lost Bus.

The 2026 Academy Awards will be held in Los Angeles, California, on Sunday March 15.

Pitt's driving prowess was unearthed

With a focus on the driving sequences being filmed authentically without CGI, Pitt and Idris were present at race tracks to capture footage.

Pitt was then invited to a McLaren TPC test alongside former F1 driver and now-Sky Sports UK pundit Martin Brundle to drive modern machinery at the Circuit of the Americas last season, surprising many with his speed.

McLaren, COTA
McLaren Racing

One of those impressed was COTA chairman Bobby Epstein, who told media, including Grand Prix on SI last year: "When I saw the car go by my office at the speed it was going, basically, someone said, 'that's actually Brad in the car.' I could not, visually, see a bit of difference in the pace or the style of how he was handling it.

"I was a little surprised. I spent some time talking to him. You find out, he's not like an amateur hobbyist. He's passionate and focused. I think, what he told me was he kind of wished, as many of us do, 'I wish I were 30 years younger because this is where I would go.'

"I think the movie industry is very lucky that Brad Pitt didn't discover racing earlier in his career because I think that would have been the route he might have chosen."

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Published | Modified
Ewan Gale
EWAN GALE

Ewan is a motorsport journalist covering F1 for Grand Prix On SI. Having been educated at Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix, and subsequently graduating from university with a sports journalism degree, Ewan made a move into F1 in 2021. Ewan joins after a stint with Autosport as an editor, having written for a number of outlets including RacingNews365 and GPFans, during which time he has covered grand prix and car launches as an accredited member of the media.

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