Perhaps, as the saying goes, you can’t outrun your past. You can, however, outrun your flaws.

That is, at least, if you’re the big, shiny and consistently thrilling “F1 The Movie.”

Racing into theaters on June 27, "F1" stalls out in the areas of plot and character development. But, honestly, who cares when you have Joseph Kosinski behind the wheel of this sleek, aerodynamic and high-octane machine?

The director of 2022 smash hit “Top Gun: Maverick” delivers scads more thrills, this time on the ground instead of in the sky and with Brad Pitt, not Tom Cruise, as the aging hero who’s still got more than a few tricks up his sleeves and a lot of fight left in him.

Pitt portrays Sonny Hayes, who in the 1990s stood on the precipice of becoming racing’s next big star, but an accident on the track nearly ended his career. Now, decades later, he’s a racing nomad who, as the story begins, helps a team win the 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race at Florida’s famed Daytona International Speedway.

His next destination is Mexico — until he’s rerouted to England by his friend and long-ago racing partner, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), who runs a Formula 1 team that is hundreds of millions of dollars in the red. The fictional APXGP outfit has one promising driver in Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), but it needs another — and Joshua, regardless of whether he knows it, could use a mentor.

The old man and the kid don’t exactly take to each other, jawing behind the scenes and acting like anything but teammates on the track. That these are two very different men is underscored by an athletic training montage, where Joshua utilizes the latest high-tech equipment and modern techniques, while Sonny sticks to push-ups, crunches, running and the like.

That they aren’t playing nice frustrates not only Ruben but also APXGP folks such as Kaspar Smolinski (Kim Bodnia, “Killing Eve”), team principal, and Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon), the group’s technical director. (And, yes, the woman working feverishly to improve APXGP car’s design and the group’s new veteran racer exchange a few glances early on, so we know where that’s headed.)

As the tale burns on, both drivers suffer setbacks, but, just maybe, by the season finale, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, they’ll have come to respect each other and have each other’s backs on the track.

The “F1” screenplay is the work of Ehren Kruger, whose credits include 2002 horror gem “The Ring” and, as a co-writer, “Top Gun: Maverick” but also three “Transformers” movies plagued by varying degrees of incoherence. Sharing credit for the story with Kosinski, Kruger has crafted something pretty herky-jerky, with character behavior shifting wildly as needed early on in the proceedings.

Plus, given that something romantic developing between Sonny and Kate was all but inevitable, it’s disappointing that the plot element feels so tacked-on, especially considering Pitt and Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) have decent chemistry.

Meanwhile, “Snowfall” star Idris is, at best, vaguely interesting as the young, impatient racer, but this isn’t a movie designed for actors to shine.

Clearly, the energy behind “F1” was put toward the filming of this multi-wheeled spectacle, the massive production shooting at actual F1 events, working, according to the film’s production notes, not to disrupt the competition and to grab a few minutes of track time whenever it could. Regardless of how disruptive the endeavor may have been, the results are on the screen — this is convincing stuff.

The notes also say a goal was to thread the needle between appealing to the F1 devotee and the non-fan alike. We can speak only from the perspective of the latter — maybe one day we’ll get around to watching the popular Netflix docuseries “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” and that will serve as a gateway into the sport — but with the help of what’s being communicated among the team members and by broadcast announcers ensures you’re getting the finer points of what’s happening on the track.

Mostly, you need to be able to follow the field-leveling tricks, some of which border on dirty, being pulled by Sonny, often without the prior knowledge of his APXGP mates. That he tells Kate he wants a car built for “combat” is one indication of how far he’ll go to win — or at least not finish as poorly as the team has been doing.

Your mileage will vary depending on the speaker setup of your theater’s auditorium, but know that “F1” is a movie that puts the pedal to the floor when it comes to sound. The results are beyond impressive, especially as cars are screaming around tracks, but also a little draining. The frequently pulsating music and, increasingly, the chatter of the announcing can wear on you even if you appreciate high-end audio work.

Despite its skids and dents, though, “F1” is an extremely engaging affair, an action movie that, despite being about two-and-a-half-hours long, whizzes by with the speed of one of the racers it celebrates. With the help of other “Maverick” collaborators such as cinematographer Claudio Miranda, Kosinski has crafted a visceral experience that grabs you and maintains a tight grip.

“This is madness!” a race commentator exclaims at one point. Yes, and it’s generally glorious madness at that.

———

‘F1 THE MOVIE’

3.5 (out of 4)

MPA rating: PG-13 (for strong language, and action)

Running time: 2:35

How to watch: In theaters June 27

———

©2025 The News-Herald (Willoughby, Ohio). Visit The News-Herald (Willoughby, Ohio) at www.news-herald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.