How F1’s access to F1 racing helped bring the movie to life

The roar of engines, gear downshifts, tires on gravel roads, and crowd cheers were all aural elements that gave Joseph Kosinski’s “F1” an adrenaline rush.

The F1 Media & Broadcast Center team, led by Content Distribution Director Tim Bampton, Audio & RF Engineering Manager Emma Penny, Live Production Director Wendy Hendricks and Broadcast & Media Director Dean Lock, was a key collaborator in giving Kosinski and his sound team unprecedented access to the 2023-2024 Grand Prix season.

Kosinski said: “Our collaboration with F1 included working closely with their broadcast team. By integrating our recording equipment into their pipeline, we were able to simultaneously capture 4K images from more than 20 trackside cameras and cover approximately 100 cameras surrounding the circuit. I explained to their incredibly talented cameramen before the race the types of shots and story beats I was looking for and they captured the moment during the actual Grand Prix.

Bampton added that the collaboration was “a fusion of a big Hollywood movie and the best live sports coverage.” Kosinski wanted the audience to be inside a race car and feel like they were going 200 miles per hour. This unique partnership helped bring the film to life by providing references and knowledge to the film’s sound team.

The Apple Original Film stars Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes, a retired Formula 1 race car driver. Javier Bardem plays Ruben, the boss of a small racing team who convinces Sonny to return to the sport in order to partner with and mentor new driver Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). The film begins midway through the F1 season, and by bringing Sony into the mix, Ruben hopes the team can score a podium.

F1’s media and broadcast center in Biggin Hill, about an hour from London, is the heart of the sport. Bampton and the team are no strangers to the twists and turns they cover in meticulous detail each week during Grand Prix season for broadcast.

As engineering manager, Penny placed 150 microphones around the actual truck. Working closely with supervising sound editor and sound designer Al Nelson, she helped capture sound from all three practice sessions, the qualifying race, and the Grand Prix race.

Whether they were in Silverstone, Bahrain or Hungary, the key was to get as close as possible. In addition to Penny’s mics, production sound mixer Gareth John used specific DPA mics similar to those used in real F1 races, strategically placed around the car, around the track and at all the various corners.

Nelson listened to all the audio Penny had collected. These threads proved invaluable to the team. “We were able to figure out exactly what it sounded like, and it was very different from track to track.” He added, “We were able to find certain angles and where we needed to hear the downshift on this turn on this track and filter it in.”

They listened to that golden moment while playing the live footage. Each circuit, car and driver has a unique sound that needed to be conveyed. “Find those unique characteristics and try to apply them to our films and Driver dramas.”

One of the golden moments was when Red Bull racer Max Verstappen crashed into McLaren driver Oscar Piastri in Abu Dhabi in 2024. It was a real moment that happened in real time, stolen from a real F1 event, and Nelson incorporated it into the film.

With Penny’s voice and John’s recordings, Nelson was able to make the film’s sound as close to the real thing as possible. “Some mics are closer than others, but there’s a visceral feeling we wanted to evoke. We have more tools on the mix stage and there’s a lot more we can do. We tried to take it to the next level, which was to feel like you’re on top of the car as it passes a curb or accelerates off the grid. It took some time and experimentation.”

Penny explains that crowd noise is difficult. “Sometimes the fans don’t really cheer.” But that’s where Whittle steps in. She will be “gathering crowd sounds, additional ADR, and chants.”

F1 superfan and re-recording mixer Juan Peralta has been following F1 for years, often waking up at 4:30am to watch the races. He was tasked with releasing the movie in theaters with that bombastic Imax sound. As a fan of the sport, he felt immense pressure to get it right. Driver helmet camera footage provided by the F1 Media & Broadcast Center proved useful. He was able to look at the camera footage and see what gear the drivers were in and what they were doing in certain corners. Peralta says the driver’s perspective helped “keep it true to the sound and what’s happening when you shift up, downshift, and go into corners.” He added, “Being able to be creative with some of these sounds and place them in the room to make them bigger and bolder was really helpful for me.”

The ‘F1’ film team had unprecedented access, but also worked with the F1 team during the Grand Prix weekend. The action sequences were filmed on the same truck, both at Silverstone and Yas Marina. Bampton says, “We found 15 minutes, 20 minutes at the most, in our schedule. We said to Joe, ‘Once we’re done with the big business of racing and the track sessions are done, we’ll try to find as much time as we can.'” I can’t overstate how much this movie was a part of our world. ”

Lock added: “There was a huge challenge there. Making a feature film around a really complex live event was immense. We were able to line up these two drivers (Pitt and Idris) on the grid in front of 450,000 people at Silverstone, one of our biggest Grands Prix, and it was very interesting to put them together.” He went on to say that watching the film afterwards was “very rewarding.”

Jerry Bruckheimer and Kosinski often sat alongside Bampton and Locke. Regarding the lines in the film, Bampton says, “There were some things I said, ‘That’s not the kind of line someone would say,’ and Joe was very open to that opinion.”

For Rizzo, that reference material was key to maintaining authenticity throughout the sound mix. “The Dialogue Department is very grateful to F1 for collaborating and providing access to its material. In addition, Skywalker’s dialogue staff worked tirelessly with F1 to collect paddock, garage and crowd recordings, allowing us to provide a thoroughly convincing racing atmosphere in the film.

In the end, “F1” comes to life and its sound is accurate. This comes as F1 opens its doors to Kosinski and his crew for the first time in history. “The scale and level of authenticity of this film would not have been possible without their critical contributions,” he says.

F1’s media and broadcast center at Biggin Hill