Smart marketing or alienating move? Our writers have their say

F1 and Apple have tied up a deal with Warner Bros. Pictures to distribute the film worldwide next summer with a teaser published on Sunday 7 July.

Filming resumed at Silverstone after Hollywood’s SAG-AFTRA strikes last year, with the camera crews following actors Brad Pitt and Damson Idris, who drive for a fictional team called APXGP.

It is being directed by Top Gun Maverick director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who with the help of Lewis Hamilton acting as a producer, have promised the most authentic racing film.

The on-track action has been done in modified Formula 2 cars that have been adapted to accommodate 14 mounting points for small Imax cameras and dressed in F1 bodywork.

Before the launch of the teaser, F1 announced the name of the film, which left our writers divided.

Alex Kalinauckas:F1is the perfect title… for F1

Unoriginal? Sure. Direct? Definitely. The whole point of this project? Yes.

Giving F1’s big-budget feature film the same title as the championship is entirely in keeping with a series where every idea is replicated to the nth degree. But it gets to the essence of the concept: this is about getting F1’s name and product to even more potential new consumers. F1 is Drive to Survive on steroids.

Brand exposure is the dull reality, but that didn’t exactly do Barbie any harm for Mattel last year. This raises an interesting related point about the growth of IP marketing projects in Hollywood right now, but it also demonstrates that F1 is on the ball in this regard.

Another part of the title that cuts directly to the point is that F1 wants F1 to be authentic. This is why the Apex GP squad has been given so much access – to the point that team staff from real squads are being warned not to ‘spike the lens’ when actors pop up in familiar places in the paddock at Silverstone. F1 wants the film’s viewers to see the story take place in a real setting to try and pique their interest.

Ultimately, any film lives and dies on its plot. That’s always going to be subjective, but even if it’s not to everyone’s taste, getting the F1 name to a new audience – F1 is set to be put on Apple TV+ once it’s had its run in cinemas (given that’s what happened with Ridley Scott’s Napoleon), so sitting front and centre of an estimated 25m people potentially choosing what to watch each night from…