Why F1 should win the Best Picture Oscar | Oscars

CShould, should F1 win the Best Picture Oscar? Well, we have to be realistic here: Formula 1 is currently a huge outsider, sitting at 200-1 alongside Secret Agent, who also has no chance but for completely different reasons. It’s not hard to see why: It’s a recklessly mainstream film, where technology and brands dwarf human input, and where the film itself serves as the front-end punchline for a sports organization desperate to break into the promised land of the American auto racing circuit. (I mean, it’s in the title.) So, even the most reactionary and conservative Academy voters will have a hard time identifying Formula 1 with their hashtag. So no, I don’t think he can win.

That doesn’t mean Formula One doesn’t have a lot of money to make it happen. The Oscars, as we know, have historically had a problem with so-called “popular” films. Oppenheimer, in 2024, was the first Best Picture winner in two decades to finish in the year’s box office top 10. Whether or not this is a reflection of Hollywood itself, which since the mid-2000s has focused its money and marketing on increasingly elaborate FX films at the expense of drama and performance, is a question that expands endlessly elsewhere. Suffice it to say that Formula 1 is certainly in this league, although it is not actually in the top ten (14th on the North American list for 2025); Apple TV+ ownership may have its complexities, diminishing its impact as a cinematic spectacle.

Should he win? It would make a difference for something like this to take home the top Oscar: a sleek, polished motion-picture artifact that’s as beautifully finished — visually at least — as the technology it asks us to worship. And a lot of people do: Formula 1 claims to have 827 million fans worldwide, and its trip to the Middle East and the US appears to be paying off. And it makes full use of a heavyweight Brad Pitt in the lead role, if only as a sort of cheerleader for the kind of middle-aged car drivers who are the mainstay of the racing crowd. (It’s an interest that seems to interest people of a certain age; see Steve McQueen at Le Mans; and if anyone has the right to call himself the modern answer to McQueen, it’s Pete.)

But the car is still the star, and a lot of attention has been paid to all the fancy new cameras, remote controls and more that have been invented to put the public, quite literally, in the driving seat. This is the film’s main weapon, and no doubt why Top Gun Maverick’s Joseph Kosinski wanted to direct; There’s no doubt that Formula 1 was introduced as the Top Gun in the car, and that’s what they got. In the same way that the Fly Boy movies are designed to give moviegoers the brief thrill of doing some very stressful but supposedly exhilarating activity without actually doing any of the boring stuff you’d need to do in real life — in F1’s case, spending years grinding your way through a karting track, less powerful Grand Prix grades, etc. — or running any risk of real-world damage, F1 is about delivering sensations, and that’s where it succeeds.

But in the end, will he win? All the smart money is elsewhere, and for good reason. If Formula 1 wins Best Picture, it will be a surprise for the ages. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, but Oscar-winning films need some kind of audience. Sinners and One Battle are obvious, F1 is much less so. Perhaps Formula 1 has already won by entering the nominations list in first place? If nothing else, Kosinski, Pitt and others can have a fairly relaxed evening, if they attend, knowing that the chances of having to give the winners’ speech are remote. But you never know…