To score F1The Movie, director Joseph Kosinski brought aboard the legendary Hans Zimmer and his co-composer Steve Mazzaro, with whom the filmmaker collaborated on in Top Gun: Maverick.
“I had a great experience working with Hans and Steve on Top Gun: Maverick,” he says. “The conversation about a score for F1 The Movie started one late evening in Cannes after Top Gun: Maverick’s release. We discussed how the sport of Formula 1 straddles both the past and the present, with its rich history and cutting-edge technology. I challenged Hans to create a score that does the same, anchored around a memorable theme that resonates through the film in both orchestral and electronic forms.”
Zimmer would do just that by creating motifs that melded orchestra and synths. “One of the things that I felt very strongly about was creating a sort of hybrid score between electronics and orchestra,” he says. Just as a race car is a human being that sits inside a machine, his score would be the same: “For me, the orchestra was always the human that sits inside that machine, and the electronics is the machine. Having spent a lot of time talking to Lewis [Hamilton, race car champion and one of the film’s producers] about what it’s like to actually be in inside the machine, that really influenced how I wanted the orchestra to sound, how the tunes were written, and the grace and the beauty and the power of those incredible cars.”’
F1 The Movie stars Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes, dubbed “the greatest that never was” and Formula 1’s most promising phenom of the 1990s until an accident on the track nearly ended his career. Thirty years later, he’s a nomadic racer-for-hire when he’s approached by his former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), owner of a struggling Formula 1 team that is on the verge of collapse. Ruben convinces Sonny to come back to Formula 1 for one last shot at saving the team and being the best in the world. He’ll drive alongside Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), the team’s hotshot rookie, intent on setting his own pace. But as the engines roar, Sonny’s past catches up with him and he finds that in Formula 1, your teammate is your fiercest competition — and the road to redemption is not something you can travel alone.
Electronic music was also the right fit for the story, Zimmer says. “One of the great things about the electronics is they make things slightly unpredictable,” says Zimmer. “When you have humans playing, you can tell from note to note emotionally what’s going to happen next, but with synthesizers, it’s the same as in the race – you don’t quite know who’s going to do what next. There’s always the element of surprise built in, and I think that’s very important in a movie like this: you score for surprise, and you’re never quite on safe ground.” Zimmer also recruited guitarist Tim Henson and members of Zimmer’s band to play on the score.
Zimmer and producer Jerry Bruckheimer mark their 13th collaboration with F1 The Movie, a partnership that began, coincidentally enough, with Bruckheimer’s first racing film, Days of Thunder. Zimmer admires the scope and scale of the producer’s films, and the chance to play in those epic sandboxes. “Every project is an impossible project,” says the composer. “But the word ‘no’ doesn’t reach his ear. We just go and make it work.” For Bruckheimer, Zimmer captured the blend of man and machine. “Hans captured it with his score,” says the producer. “He captured how you blend and hear the music, yet also hear the roar of the car and the crowd. It’s such an impossible task to hit the right tones, the right frequencies to cut through, and yet let the cars be as dynamic as they are. Hans made the cars romantic – the melody overwhelms you and sweeps you away.”
Zimmer was attracted to the project not just for the chance to reunite with Kosinski and Bruckheimer, but because it was Formula 1. “I had a car-mad dad – he had a Mercedes Gullwing and a Ferrari Dino. In Europe, we embraced F1, and now, this is my third race car movie.”
With that respect for the automobiles, making certain that his score meshed with the sound design, cinematography, and editing of the film was a top challenge for the composers. “It is a tough score in that you have big set pieces, big races, and you have to find a way to make them unique, while also staying out of the way of sound effects, but also bringing a little emotion,” says Mazzaro. “These races are very emotional for these drivers. It’s their life, you know? We wanted to honor that and bring it forward with the music as best we could.”
“The movie has to become one expression — my colors have to fit with the colors that Joe uses in his cinematography,” says Zimmer. “It sounds slightly insane, but I have seen movies ruined by music; music is a dangerous animal because it influences the way you feel. It influences the experience you have. If we are not in sync, it becomes less of a movie. We worked very hard at becoming in sync.”
“We spent forever figuring out the tempo of the music against the picture,” Zimmer continues. “If the music went too fast, the picture looked slow. If the music went too slow, it was out of sync. We found an overall tempo that enhanced the speed of the film. And one of the things that was unusual for us is we never slow down; even in dialogue sequences, there is still like a pulse of something going on.” At the center of the score of F1The Movie is the motif for Pitt’s character, Sonny Hayes. “For Brad, it felt really simple: you had to have a gunslinger motif. Every time that motif comes in, it’s slightly cheeky, it’s slightly robust, and it’s very recognizable.”
In addition to the score, the filmmakers and the team at Apple worked closely with music producers Max Martin and Mark Ronson to compile a soundtrack of songs that would enhance the film and make it come to life. Because music is an integral part of the entertainment at any Formula 1 race weekend, it was especially important to make sure that the songs were contemporary and as high-octane as the cars.
Because this is an Apple Original Film, there was a unique opportunity to land today’s biggest artists to provide songs for the film. “F1 The Movie presented a significant opportunity to fully utilize music as a powerful tool to bring the film to life globally,” says David Taylor, head of music for Apple TV+. “We have a proven track record of breaking artists and curating music, fostering deeper connections with audiences while always prioritizing storytelling in our musical collaborations. To achieve this, we decided to leverage the resources and connections we possess at Apple and within the music community. We brought the music supervision of the film in-house, with me leading as the music supervisor. We then brought on Atlantic Records, and some of the team behind the success of Barbie, to partner with us in helping to find songs that fit the brief Joe laid out for the film.
“Working closely with Joe Kosinski, Jerry Bruckheimer, and the filmmakers, we meticulously selected artists and songs that perfectly encapsulate the film’s tone, energy, characters, story arc, and overall atmosphere of the F1 world,” Taylor continues. “Our goal was to enhance the emotional depth of the film’s experience. Additionally, we aimed to create something that felt like a refined extension of the world of Formula 1, and I believe we’ve achieved that.”
“It was very important for us to have the perfect selection and balance of new music from a global roster of superstar artists across the most relevant genres,” adds Kevin Weaver, West Coast President of Atlantic Records. “The goal was to create a bespoke musical counterpart to the human drama, passion, sacrifice, and obsession at the heart of the film and also the sport. We also wanted the music to feel as cinematic and emotional as the story itself. Each artist brought their own unique voice and energy to the project, helping us build a soundtrack that doesn’t just complement the film – it amplifies it. The diversity of sound and artists reflects the complexity of the characters as well as the global scale of Formula 1. It was about matching the storytelling with music that could elevate the emotion, intensity, and high stakes of the film.”
Toward that end, the filmmakers and the studio compiled needle drops and a soundtrack that includes such artists as Rosé from Blackpink, Doja Cat & Don Toliver, Ed Sheeran with Dave Grohl and John Mayer, Tate McRae, Burna Boy. Tiesto ft. Sexy Red, Raye, Dom Dolla, Obongiayar, Chris Stapleton, Roddy Rich, Pawsa, Peggy Gou, Madison Beer, Mr. Eazi, Darkoo, and Myke Towers.
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