For many viewers who didn’t catch Joseph Kosinski’s “F1” until it hit Apple TV+, it can be remarkably easy to take the sheer quality of the production for granted. However, for those of us fortunate enough to witness the film during its sprawling theatrical run, the experience was a visceral reminder of why certain stories belong on the largest screen possible. When experienced in a theater equipped with advanced sound like Dolby Atmos, the film transforms from a sports drama into a sensory assault where every gear shift and gravel crunch is rendered with surgical precision. It is a film where sound doesn’t just complement the visuals, it drives them.
Director Joseph Kosinski has built a reputation for a specific signature of hyper-realism, most notably with the blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick.” In “F1,” that obsession with authenticity is pushed to its absolute limit. The film follows Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), a legendary phenom of the 1990s whose career was derailed by a horrific accident. Thirty years later, he is pulled back into the world of Formula 1 by his former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) to save a struggling team. Tasked with mentoring the hotshot rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), Sonny quickly learns that in this world, your teammate may also be your fiercest competition and the road to redemption is a high-speed gauntlet.
To translate this high-stakes drama into a sonic reality, Kosinski assembled a “Dream Team” of sound artisans who possess some of the most impressive resumes in modern cinema. This group includes Supervising Sound Editor Al Nelson, whose work on “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Jurassic World” defined the modern action landscape, and Gwen Yates Whittle, a veteran of the “Avatar” franchise and “Tron: Legacy.” Joining them are re-recording mixers Juan Peralta, the man behind the massive soundscapes of the “Avengers” saga, and Gary Rizzo, a frequent Christopher Nolan collaborator known for the meticulous detail in films like “Inception” and “Dunkirk.”
The goal for this team was clear: the audience needed to feel like they were strapped into the cockpit alongside Hayes and Pearce. This meant moving beyond generic engine roars to capture the intricate engineering aspects of a Formula 1 car. From the whistle of the turbocharger to the specific “dirty air” turbulence that occurs when following another car, the sound team was tasked with educating the audience on the physics of racing through their ears. Every sonic choice was designed to immerse the viewer in the mechanical violence of the sport while maintaining a delicate balance that never allowed the roar of the engines to drown out the human heart of the story.
One of the most impressive feats of the project was the level of collaboration with Formula 1 itself, specifically with seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton serving as a producer and technical consultant. The sound team effectively became the “11th team on the track,” embedding themselves at Grand Prix events around the globe to capture terabytes of authentic audio. This wasn’t just about recording cars; it was about recording the right cars in the right gears at the right corners. As the team explains in our discussion, their work had to pass the “Hamilton Test,” where the smallest inaccuracy in a gear shift or a braking zone would be caught by the champion’s expert ear.
The F1 sound team, including Al Nelson, Gwen Yates Whittle, Juan Peralta, Gary Rizzo , and production mixer Gareth John talked with Awards Focus about the two-year journey of becoming the “11th team on the track,” the technical gauntlet of rigging cars for 200 mph dialogue, and the creative decision to use silence as a weapon during the film’s most harrowing moments.
Awards Focus: This is a film on an enormous sonic scale. What was the first thought that crossed your mind when you realized you had to create the sound identity for a Formula 1 racing movie?
Gareth John: I had the same thought as you, Ben: I thought, how am I going to do this? We basically created a team from scratch. We were the “11th team on the track,” and we just sort of figured it out as we went along. We had a great team in post and a great team with me on the track, and it all just came together. And a real F1 Grand Prix!
Juan Peralta: I’ve been watching Formula One for a very long time, so this was a dream project for me. To answer your question earlier, the big hurdle was: how do we take what I’m so used to hearing, which is just on TV and on broadcast, and transform that into a cinematic experience? For me, that was the big hurdle.
AF: When you came onto the project, how clear was the level of access you would have? Was that already negotiated, or did it evolve?
Gary Rizzo: We have to sing our director’s praises here. Joe Kosinski is so invested in what we do and knew that this film needed to be the first real deep dive into Formula One motorsports. From camera development to bringing on Lewis Hamilton as a producer, he was proactive in getting us access to garages, cars, and crowds. He wanted the audience to feel exactly what it’s like to be a driver. It had to be the real stuff—the real breaking and turning—authentic to what the cameras were showing.
Gareth John: The access was incredible. For example, when we went to Belgium at Spa, we were about a yard away from the cars at the Eau Rouge corner. They go past at 200 miles an hour. You actually had to turn away because all this grit and rubber flew up and hit you in the face through the chain-link fence. And remember, these weren’t just professionals; we had our actors driving Formula 2 cars modified to look like Formula 1 cars, and Brad Pitt and Damson Idris were driving at 160 plus miles an hour.
AF: Much like “Top Gun: Maverick,” there’s an immense amount of custom rigging involved here. How did you balance capturing the authentic sounds of the track while still preserving clear dialogue for the human moments?
Gareth John: Getting the mikes on the cars was challenging. We had to involve the F1 mechanics to specify where we could rig equipment without affecting the cars. It’s a very hostile environment for a sound department. We were trying to nail the drama and get the performances, so we had radio mikes in the right places. Despite the constant music and announcements at these races, we were able to have clear dialogue that we didn’t have to replace.
AF: To your point, much of this was shot during real F1 events, which meant you had no control over the environment. How did that constraint shape your approach?
Gareth John: We tried! But it was a constant conversation. You can’t exactly ask Max Verstappen not to do his practice lap because we’re trying to shoot a scene. It doesn’t really go down very well, so we just had to roll with it.
AF: There are some sounds in the film that are more conceptual, like “Dirty Air.” How do you create an audio identity for something that is invisible to the eye?
Gary Rizzo: I love that challenge because it is an invisible barrier that creates an immense amount of resistance, and those drivers react to it instantly. We had to sell that concept to an audience where half the people are fans and half have no idea what it is. We listened to authentic radio communications where they talked about this resistance. Al [Nelson] and team found a sound that was essentially a gritty rubber distortion. It spoke the cinematic language of resistance. The balance between Juan and I was key—making sure you “feel” that concept without losing the words. It is an ongoing, constant balance of elements like that.
AF: I want to ask about the absence of sound. During the major crash in the third act, the film goes silent. What was the goal from a filmmaking standpoint in that moment?
Juan Peralta: Anytime a crash happens, the first reaction is complete shock and awe. You’re just like, “Oh my God, is that person okay?” Joe and our editor, Stephen Mirrione, had the concept of dropping everything out to create a “cinematic gasp” for the audience. If you’ve ever seen a horrendous crash in real life, it literally takes your breath away. We went to an early preview screening in Los Angeles, and the audible gasp we got in the theater was incredible. It’s exactly how you feel when you actually watch the races.
AF: How much did Lewis Hamilton contribute to the thinking around the overall sound design?
Gary Rizzo: We were so grateful Lewis was invested. Joe and Jerry [Bruckheimer] were very eager that they had Lewis participate even from the script stage so we could be honest for this sport. He was incredibly articulate. He’d say, “That’s not right there. I hear that I’m in the correct gear… but I’m at turn 11 and I can hear the pit wall. In your recording, you’re using turn three, aren’t you?” We’d say, “Yeah, but you’re in sixth gear, right?” and he’d say, “I am, but I hear the pit wall.”
He was so particular that he invited us to the Las Vegas Grand Prix to join him in the garage. He started his car and peeled away just so we could record it. He even waited until all the other drivers left the grid so he could take off alone, giving us a clean recording of a single F1 car going from 0 to 200. That is next to impossible to get, so it was a total gift. When we finally showed the film to the drivers, they were very complimentary that we accomplished that task.
AF: What feedback has meant the most to you as sound designers, especially from people within the sport?
Gary Rizzo: Jerry has been amazing and so supportive. The film was in theaters all summer, over three months, so that’s a big compliment.
Gwen Yates Whittle: People also compliment the way the music, effects, dialogue, and announcers work together without stepping on each other. Silverstone has no music, but the others do, and it’s used in coordination with the announcers so nothing distracts you from what you’re supposed to be paying attention to without losing the energy or momentum.
Juan Peralta: One of the best compliments I keep hearing is that the movie was just so much fun to watch. To me, that is like, “Okay, we did it.” Because when was the last time you went to the movies and when it ended you were just like, “Wow, that was awesome”?
AF: That sense of fun really comes through. I’m curious, did any of you ever get to sit in the car yourselves, just to experience what it actually sounds like from that perspective?
Gareth John: No! As much as I would love that. I think I got the closest just to breathe on it a couple of times. But if you touch the car after a race, the car and the driver will get disqualified. We had to be super cautious in and around them. They are such expensive, highly precision-engineered pieces of machinery.
AF: For a movie this complicated, what did the post-production schedule look like compared to an average project?
Gary Rizzo: We did a substantial temp mix months before the final mix because we wanted to figure out the thumbprint of this early on.
Gwen Yates Whittle: They hadn’t even shot Abu Dhabi or Las Vegas when we did the temp!
Gary Rizzo: We started way earlier just to do the recordings. Joe brought us the script and that’s when the process started. We were involved from the moment they started shooting through the end. It was close to two years.
AF: The announcers, David Croft and Martin Brundle, are essential in helping the audience understand what’s happening. How did you balance their commentary with the sounds of the track?
Gwen Yates Whittle: They were awesome. They would ad-lib the whole thing while hitting the plot points we needed. We did one version where it was wall-to-wall chatter, but Joe said, “It’s not the Croft and Brundle movie.” We had to balance the “know-nothings” with the super-fans.
Gary Rizzo: It was a constant collaboration editorially to figure out narratively what needed to be said. But the biggest factor was having those voices because they made the whole thing authentic. We played them in a “PA Stadium” style in the mix so it felt like an emulated real-world environment. It brought so much energy and authenticity to the whole thing.
AF: Well, congratulations. It is one of the films of the year, and I hope you all get your just due in terms of recognition this season. Happy holidays to you all.
Gary Rizzo: Thank you, Ben.