Formula 1 auto racing is hotter than ever, now with its 75th season underway. If you just can’t get enough of the world’s premier motorsport, you might be looking for more ways to satiate your speed addiction on streaming services like Netflix, Prime Video, and more.
Any F1 fan will tell you, when the race is over and the champagne sprays run dry, the weeks between Grand Prix can be excruciating. Luckily for you, I’m here with some of the best high-octane racing movies, documentaries, and TV series to hold you over until the race day.
5
Formula 1: Drive to Survive
|
Release Year |
2019 |
|---|---|
|
Seasons |
7 |
|
Episodes |
70 |
|
Status |
Ongoing |
Since Drive to Survive‘s premiere season in 2019, Netflix’s docuseries has been the launching point for millions of newcomers to Formula 1, many of whom (myself included) were sucked into the glamorous and cutthroat world of F1 by bingeing entire seasons during the pandemic.
I never in a million years thought I’d get so into racing, but I’ve long believed that if you take some time to learn the stakes, stories, and characters of any sport, you can get drawn in. Drive to Survive is proof positive of this. Now in its seventh season, the series runs just after each F1 calendar, providing a behind-the-scenes look at everything that makes it so addictive—the cars, the strategy, the teams, the drivers, the personalities, the danger.
4
Rush
|
Release Year |
2013 |
|---|---|
|
Runtime |
1 hour 3 minutes |
|
Genre |
Motorsport docudrama, biography |
We’ll see if Brad Pitt’s upcoming F1 film has the pace to unseat this 2013 gem from director Ron Howard as the definitive Hollywood-ized Formula 1 movie. Rush is a fictionalized account of the legendary rivalry between two of the sport’s icons: three-time world champion, Austrian Niki Lauda (Inglorious Basterds‘ Daniel Brühl) and one-time world champion, England’s James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth).
While the film explores both drivers’ glamorous personal lives, it’s Lauda and Hunt’s intense on-track battles that make Rush a nail-biter, with breakneck cinematic recreations that are stunning. As the rivals fight tire-to-tire for the 1976 championship, things take a horrific turn when Lauda suffers a brutal crash at the German Grand Prix and must find a way to come back from the brink to defend his championship.
3
Ford v Ferrari
|
Release Year |
2019 |
|---|---|
|
Runtime |
2 hours 33 minutes |
|
Genre |
Action, drama |
While technically not a F1 movie, this 2019 James Mangold-directed pulse-pounder is more than worthy of inclusion. In 1960s auto racing, few rivalries were as intense as the one between Enzo Ferrari’s Scuderia and Henry Ford II’s Ford Motor Company.
After being insulted by Enzo’s rejection of Ford’s attempt to buy Ferrari, Ford hires retired racer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and cocky Brit racer/mechanic Ken Miles (Christian Bale) to develop a car to beat Ferrari at the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. The iconic Ford GT40 is born, but while the utter beast of a racecar may have the guts to cross the finish line ahead of Ferrari, Carrol and Miles find that the battle against Ford’s bureaucratic execs is just as intense.
2
Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story
|
Release Year |
2023 |
|---|---|
|
Seasons |
1 |
|
Episodes |
4 |
|
Status |
Ended |
This excellent four-part Hulu miniseries is the against-all-odds true story of a Formula 1 racing team that loses everything but miraculously fights back to win it all. When Honda Racing F1 pulls its team out of the 2009 Grand Prix season, it leaves technical director Ross Brawn and his team carless. After purchasing the team for £1, rebranding it to Brawn GP, and modifying a Mercedes engine to fit the car, it’s a hail-Mary move that just might be crazy enough to work.
Narrated by Keanu Reeves, each episode documents the storied 2009 F1 season with behind-the-scenes and race footage, as well as interviews with Ross Brawn and team, drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, and many other current and past F1 personalities. It’s a great hidden gem TV show.
1
Senna
|
Release Year |
2010 |
|---|---|
|
Runtime |
1 hour 46 minutes |
|
Genre |
Sports documentary, motorsport |
Brazil’s national treasure Ayrton Senna is the undisputed north star of Formula 1, and this 2010 documentary should be considered essential viewing for anyone into the sport.
A three-time F1 world champion and an intensely passionate character on and off the grid, the enigmatic driver’s life is chronicled in detail, from his formative days of carting in Brazil through his early years of F1 racing for teams Lotus and Toleman, to his often ugly rivalry with McLaren teammate, the also-legendary Alain Prost. Senna’s denouement, of course, is marked by his fatal crash at Italy’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in 1994, an event that changed Formula 1 racing forever.
Even if you’re not already a fan of Formula 1 racing, these shows and movies are full of drama, high-stakes, and some of the best cinematography and imagery you find anywhere. If you do follow F1, keep this list handy so you can fill in those painful days and weeks between races!
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