The Ending of 'F1 The Movie', Explained
You've heard this story before: Person from [insert legitimate or criminal career] returns for one last go at [taking down a sworn enemy/entering the boxing ring/pulling off a heist] even though they're older and hardened and said they'd never do it again. Welcome to the genre, F1 the Movie.
In the new summer blockbuster hopeful, Brad Pitt stars as Sonny Hayes, a former Formula One driver who retired 30 years prior after suffering terrible injuries in a crash. He's convinced to return to racing on the team of his former friend and fellow ex-driver, Ruben (Javier Bardem). Sonny's teammate is an up-and-coming driver, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), and they're on the worst team in the league, APXGP.
Will the newbie and the veteran be able to pull off a comeback, save the team from being dismantled by its board, and stop Ruben from being forced to sell it? Will Sonny change his legacy in the sport? Will Joshua make a name for himself? That's what audiences are there to find out. And, if they're F1 fans, they're also there to check out all the cameos from the real drivers and critique how accurate the film is to actual racing.
If you've already seen F1 and want a bit more clarity on how things turned out, keep reading. If you think you might see F1 and don't want it spoiled, turn back now! We're about to get into how things shake out for Sonny, Joshua, and the APXGP team.
With Sonny driving for APXGP, the team steadily works their way closer to the podium. This is despite Sonny doing a number of things that certainly wouldn't fly in real F1 Grands Prix and Sonny and Joshua not initially getting along.
During the Las Vegas Grand Prix—the second to last race of the year—Sonny is injured and hospitalized, at which point Ruben finds out just how bad Sonny's injuries from 30 years earlier were. Like, he was nearly paralyzed and should have never raced again. So, Ruben fires him.
After he's released from the hospital, Sonny is approached by APXGP board member Peter (Tobias Menzies), who reveals that he wants Ruben to be forced to sell the team so that he can start his own team, and he wants to bring Sonny on as the team principal. Peter also admits that he forged documents to try to get APXGP banned from racing by saying their car included illegal components.
Anyway, just prior to the last race, Abu Dhabi, Sonny returns to the track and is all, "Hey Ruben, you better let me back on this team because... it's the last race, you have no better option." Okay, sure! He also texts Peter a middle finger emoji.
In the race, Sonny pulls all of his questionable Sonny stuff again, setting up Joshua to win the race. But, with moments left, Joshua and Lewis Hamilton collide, leaving Sonny to take the lead and win the race.
Kate (Kerry Condon) is the APXGP technical director and Sonny's love interest. At the end of the movie, Kate and Sonny say goodbye to one another—for now. Sonny has some business to take care off, which is just temporarily becoming a driver for a different type of race, because it is only through driving that he can seek true euphoria.
So, Kate and Sonny are a... long-distance hookup situationship? Not so romantic, but this is about the love of driving cars, man!
Joshua was really put through the wringer. He ended up with Sonny as his teammate halfway through the season, was bossed around by him, was hospitalized from a serious crash, missed three races, and returned and almost won the last race only for Sonny to end up winning it instead.
In the end, though, he tells Sonny that it's cool that Sonny took this one, because he's "gonna win a million races." You go, JP! Movie shoulda been all about you!
To sneaky board member Peter's dismay, it seems APXGP will continue on, because they were able to win one race and having a 60-year-old former racer be the one to win it was quite the sensation!
Unclear! A big deal is made about Sonny winning the final race—I mean, the movie is about him, so that's fair, and some drivers never even win one Grand Prix—but we don't get to find out which of the actual drivers won the F1 season. Max Verstappen won the last four IRL, so him, I guess! Or maybe in this fictional movie Lewis Hamilton won the championship because, conveniently, he's a producer on the movie.
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