F1 (aka F1: The Movie) (20250

[Mike Blakesley]

Our film booker said he thought this was the best movie of the summer. While I will agree it is very good, I haven't seen "Superman" or the new "Naked Gun" yet so I'm going to reserve judgement.

This is one of those movies that has a story, but most people are going to come for the race scenes. And it totally delivers on that front. There are five or six race scenes and while they're similar, each one packs surprises, accidents, amazing pit scenes, and other bits that make them fascinating to watch.

I was disappointed in the story. The plot-line is very convoluted. As proof, I offer the following paragraph which is taken from the Wikipedia plot description of this movie.

In his comeback race—the Belgian Grand Prix—Joshua's aggressive driving causes a collision with Sonny, forcing him out of the race. Kate arranges a poker game where the winner gets favorable treatment at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Joshua wins but, after he leaves, Sonny reveals he intentionally folded with a winning hand. Impressed, Kate invites Sonny to her hotel room and they spend the night together. Rubén interrupts them to announce an anonymous tip claimed Kate manufactured upgrades illegally.^[i] Kate denies wrongdoing, but the FIA demand the upgrades' removal. During the race, Sonny gets road rage and crashes. As Sonny recovers, Rubén learns his 1993 injuries permanently impaired him, and fires him for his safety. Board member Peter Banning reveals to Sonny that he orchestrated his signing and the complaint so he could fire Rubén and sell APXGP, offering to promote him to team principal if the sale goes through.

The whole synopsis is like that. This movie has more characters and subplots than an Avengers film. By 20 minutes in, I was already lost and was reduced to just watching the race scenes and hoping Brad Pitt would win, since he's the hero of the piece.

I suppose if you are a fan of, or at least knowledgable about, Formula One racing, you'd have a better chance at understanding the goings-on. I don't know much about it myself, but I was hoping the movie would give enough exposition to clue me in a little. Sadly, it didn't.

We did have some F1 fans here last night who absolutely raved about the movie. One guy said he was so wrapped up in it that he forgot to eat his popcorn. Now that's movie engagement! So maybe it was just me.

I will give high praise to the sound people on this. The mix was outstanding. Joseph Kosinski must have used the same team he had for Top Gun Maverick, which also had a stellar sound mix.

Overall, I'd give it two stars because of the odd story, but I'll up it to four: One extra for the amazing sound and the equally amazing race scenes, and one because of those raving audience members. I mean, if the movie can make you forget to eat our popcorn, it must be doing something right.

EDIT: Mods please fix the parentheses in my thread title - I don't see a way to edit that.

[Lyle Romer]

I saw this in IMAX....WITH LASER BEAMS taken off of sharks. I will say that there was no laser speckle or anything and the picture was fantastic except for a slight glow from the aisle lights in the lower corners. The racing scenes were great. The first half of the movie was good from a plot standpoint but that aspect fell apart in the second half and it just got ridiculous. Some of the racing stuff was patently ridiculous. The team would have been penalized like crazy for Brad Pitt's character [SPOILER]intentionally causing crashes to bring out safety cars[/SPOILER].

Also doing ridiculously unrealistic things like having a female (and a small, petite one at that) tire changer. Pit mechanics in all motorsports are always men due to the strength and athleticism needed to perform a fast pit stop.

Overall it was a pretty good movie and a very good experience. I enjoyed it but don't have a desire to watch it again. I think 2.5 out of 5 stars is fair.

[Frank Cox]

Two things I learned watching this movie:

1. Three seconds to change the tires: jacking up the car, removing the tires and replacing them. Anything over three seconds is bad.
2. There are different tires for different track conditions and they get changed for that reason as well as for wearing out as the race goes on.

And, I suppose,

3. Those tires sure don't last long on the cars.

So I guess that's three things learned.

Here is an interesting video of the current world record F1 fastest pit stop, 1.82 seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsCriICZ-nA

You can see in the slow motion at the end how much the tires that are being removed have worn. They look like they're really shot.

[Mike Blakesley]

I was trying to figure out how the tires are held on. I remember seeing pit stops in racecar movies "back in the day" where you would have guys with air wrenches going zip-zip-zip-zip to put lug nuts on. Now they just seem to slide on and off. How do they stay in place?

[Frank Cox]

I asked Google Gemini that question, and here is the answer:

Formula One tires are attached to the car using a highly specialized and engineered system designed for speed, security, and safety. This system is centered around a single, large centerlock wheel nut on each wheel, rather than the multiple lug nuts found on a road car.
Here's a breakdown of the key components and procedures:
* Centerlock Wheel Nut: This is the primary method of attachment. It's a single, oversized nut that threads onto a central axle. This design is crucial for the lightning-fast pit stops, as it's far quicker to remove and re-attach than five or more lug nuts.
* Design for Speed: The nuts and the wheel guns used to operate them are precisely engineered. The nuts often have a spline-drive design, which allows the wheel gun to engage with it from many different angles, eliminating the need for a precise six-sided hex engagement. Some teams also use "captive wheel nuts" that are pre-mounted in the wheel itself, saving the pit crew member the step of handling a separate nut.
* Right- and Left-Hand Threads: The wheel nuts on one side of the car are often threaded in the opposite direction from the other side. This is an added safety measure, as the rotational forces of the wheel help to keep the nut tight, rather than loosening it.
* Wheel Tethers: This is a critical safety feature mandated by the FIA (F1's governing body). In the event of a crash, these strong, reinforced cables prevent the wheels from detaching from the car and flying into the air, which could be extremely dangerous to drivers, marshals, and spectators.
* Attachment: The tethers are attached to the wheel's upright (the part that holds the wheel) and the car's chassis.
* Energy Absorption: The tethers are made of a special material that absorbs a huge amount of energy as they stretch and break, further dissipating the force of an impact.
* The Pit Stop: During a pit stop, a highly trained crew of mechanics works in a choreographed ballet to change all four tires in under two seconds.
* Wheel Guns: The pneumatic wheel guns are incredibly powerful, applying immense torque to loosen or tighten the single centerlock nut in a fraction of a second.
* Automated Systems: Modern F1 cars have automated systems that confirm the wheel is properly secured before the car is released. The wheel gun often signals to the driver and the pit crew's lights system that the nut is tight and the retention mechanism is engaged.
The entire system is a masterpiece of engineering, balancing the need for rapid pit stops with the highest levels of safety to protect everyone involved in the sport.

[Marcel Birgelen]

In a Formula 1 pit stop, everything is perfectly synchronized. That's why it's usually considered a bad stop if it takes much longer than 2.5 seconds.

The tires come pre-heated, for example. The single-nut system has been in-place since the mid 1990s. Nowadays, those systems are also captive, so the pneumatic tool they use, captures the nut, which saves another action. Those nuts and tools are ridiculously expensive.

They lift the car just enough so they can remove the tires. The mechanism they use to lift the car is spring-loaded, so that once they're finished, they can instantly drop the car. Many systems on a Formula 1 car are modular. They can change the complete nose-wing assembly in just a few seconds.

Until 2010, they also refueled cars during pitstops, but they stopped doing so after some rather flashy incidents.

[Mike Blakesley]

I did find a youtube video that showed the pitstop process. It's pretty fascinating!

See, they should have used that kind of logic when designing electric cars. Should have been able to drive into a station, swap out the old battery and have a new fully charged battery slid in within a few seconds. With the existing system, thousands of convenience stores will likely go out of business and billions of dollars willl have to be spent on building recharging stations. If they'd started with the swap-out idea, it would have kept most of the c-stores in business, created jobs, and solved the problems of excessive charging time and "range anxiety."

[Frank Cox]

But just like the current propane tank swapping system, you could drive into the service station with your shiny well-cared-for battery and drive out with an old piece of crap that's on its last leg. Is it possible to test one of those batteries for wear and range before putting it into service?

[Ryan Gallagher]

But just like the current propane tank swapping system, you could drive into the service station with your shiny well-cared-for battery and drive out with an old piece of crap that's on its last leg. Is it possible to test one of those batteries for wear and range before putting it into service?

Testing battery health is pretty easy, but the question is in that model "would they", or would they just take shortcuts in favor of more profit. (less frequent replacement of fleet batteries). I feel the answer is pretty obvious but I'm kinda jaded when it comes to those things.

In addition to being "a piece of crap" add a real health and public safety hazard. I would expect more car battery fires in that model, not less.

But the "principle" is a good ideal, the practice is where it falls apart.

That said, the maritime industry is on the verge of banning EVs from car carrier transport because they so dangerous out at sea, several disasters caused by them already. Perhaps separating the hazard from the vehicle is a worthwhile thought, even if isn't part of a battery fleet swap scheme.

[Sascha Roll]

I did find a youtube video that showed the pitstop process. It's pretty fascinating!

See, they should have used that kind of logic when designing electric cars. Should have been able to drive into a station, swap out the old battery and have a new fully charged battery slid in within a few seconds. With the existing system, thousands of convenience stores will likely go out of business and billions of dollars willl have to be spent on building recharging stations. If they'd started with the swap-out idea, it would have kept most of the c-stores in business, created jobs, and solved the problems of excessive charging time and "range anxiety."

This is exactly what NIO is doing.

https://www.nio.com/news/nio-pss-4.0

You can look for NIO Power Swap Station on Youtube. Takes about 4-5 minutes.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Tesla faked this years ago...

I guess the problem with this battery-swap idea is standardization and warranty/claim issues. What if someone swaps the battery pack for a bad one? What if the battery pack gets defective while I'm driving with it?

[Ryan Gallagher]

Tesla faked this years ago...

I guess the problem with this battery-swap idea is standardization and warranty/claim issues. What if someone swaps the battery pack for a bad one? What if the battery pack gets defective while I'm driving with it?

That's amusing cause Tesla never seemed hesitant to shirk liability/safety in favor of beta testing "tech" they wanted to deploy ahead of it being ready. The whole "go fast and break things" mantra. I'd guess they did the math and figured they'd make more money if people just replaced the entire card when the battery started to age, treating a car not unlike other tech like phones, where people constantly swap them for the new model. That is kinda the whole problem with the direction of the EV industry in the US. EV's should easily outlast combustion systems... provided you just do a battery swap, which is cost prohibitive right now.

Assuming NIO can stay in business and deploy enough battery stations, and keep battery form factors from changing too much, that fleet might be around for EONS.

Tesla is probably the only company that could have even have tried the battery swap approach in the US due to market penetration (so far). The rest of the players would have to standardize around one or two battery designs and all play ball together.

I don't have crazy high hopes conidering Bezos is involved, but I'm kinda digging the "minimalist but configurable" approach of the Slate Truck as a platform. Probably gets horrible mpw due to boxy design, but if they made the batteries easily swappable in it I might be sold on the concept for a utility commuter.

https://www.slate.auto/e

[Lyle Romer]

Tesla faked this years ago...

I guess the problem with this battery-swap idea is standardization and warranty/claim issues. What if someone swaps the battery pack for a bad one? What if the battery pack gets defective while I'm driving with it?

Did they just make a CGI example of it or did they demonstrate it with a prototype? I thought I remembered that they demonstrated it.

You could get around the defective battery thing if Tesla maintained ownership of all of the batteries and you paid some kind of security deposit or battery lease as part of the vehicle purchase.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Did they just make a CGI example of it or did they demonstrate it with a prototype? I thought I remembered that they demonstrated it.

You could get around the defective battery thing if Tesla maintained ownership of all of the batteries and you paid some kind of security deposit or battery lease as part of the vehicle purchase.

They did a very public demo:

It was sold as a technology that was ready to roll-out.

According to some, they only did this to earn more ZEV credits, because vehicles that could charge 80% in under 15 minutes, could earn double the credits. According to Elon Musk, every Model S was prepared for this (his own words).

Whatever the truth is, the system never went into production.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

As far as car movies go, it's going to be almost impossible to beat Ford VS. Ferarri...

As far as electric cars go, I won't own one until the battery technology improves. Lithium needs to go away.