Brad Pitt’s F1 movie takes pole with two Golden Globes nominations
Brad Pitt’s Formula 1 film has traded pit lanes for red carpets, landing a pair of Golden Globes nominations after a box office run that screamed past expectations.
Released in June, the Apple-backed movie — simply titled F1 — is up for Best Original Score – Motion Picture and the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement award. It’s a tidy haul for a film that muscled its way to more than $631 million worldwide, one of 2025’s biggest earners.
Hans Zimmer’s score is front and center of the awards push. The German composer, whose name is practically welded to modern cinema’s soundscape, collects his 17th Golden Globes nomination here. He’s won three times before (The Lion King, Gladiator, Dune) and was last in the hunt with Dune: Part Two, edged out that year by Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor. F1’s engine note might be cinematic, but Zimmer’s work is the heartbeat.
The second nod arrives in a category that’s tailor-made for F1’s profile. The Cinematic and Box Office Achievement award, introduced in 2024, celebrates films that are both widely watched and critically respected. To qualify, a movie needs at least $150 million globally, including $100 million in the United States. F1 is one of eight films nominated alongside the likes of KPop Demon Hunters, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Wicked: For Good, and Zootopia 2. Previous winners? Barbie (2023) and Wicked (2024). It’s a heavyweight lane.
On screen, Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a veteran racer coaxed into one last chapter, while Damson Idris co-stars as young charger Joshua Pearce. The pairing gave the film a smart human core amid the spectacle, and that blend — glossy racing choreography wrapped around a simple, high-stakes story — is likely what’s resonated beyond the paddock.
Motorsport and the movies have always had a curious chemistry. John Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix (1966) took home Oscars for sound and editing by throwing audiences straight into the cockpit long before GoPros were a thing. Ron Howard’s Rush (2013) captured the combustible Lauda–Hunt rivalry and snagged a raft of technical awards. Ford v Ferrari (2019) did the same for Le Mans lore and walked off with Oscars for editing and sound. F1 now steps into that lineage with modern tech and modern scale, and it’s clearly landed with mainstream crowds.
Whether the Globes translate into further awards momentum is a January conversation. For now, it’s notable that a film grounded in the sport — not just “a film with cars” — is playing at the very top of the box office and awards charts. That matters to Formula 1’s broader pop-cultural footprint. When cinema-goers buy into the noise and needle of racing, the halo effect often reaches the grandstands.
The Golden Globes’ 83rd edition is set for January 11. If Zimmer converts and F1 steals a lap from its blockbuster rivals, it’ll cap a remarkable run for a project that set out to make racing feel big-screen urgent again — and ended up elbowing its way into Hollywood’s front row.
