"F1" movie wins Best Sound at 2026 BAFTAs as sequel plans gather pace

The F1 movie picked up another award over the weekend at the 2026 BAFTA Film Awards. 

Having been nominated alongside Frankenstein, One Battle After Another, Sinners and Warfare, the Brad Pitt-led film won the Best Sound category at the awards.

F1 had also been nominated for the Special Visual Effects and Best Editing categories. Avatar: Fire and Ash won Best Special Visual Effects, and the award for Best Editing went to One Battle After Another.

F1 follows nomadic driver Sonny Hayes (Pitt) as he returns to Formula 1 with the struggling APXGP team alongside rookie driver Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). The team, owned by Hayes' former team-mate Rubén Cervantes (Javier Bardem), has the final nine races of the season to win a grand prix, otherwise the investors will sell it. 

The APXGP cars were modified Formula 2 cars and were actually driven by Pitt and Idris. This, in addition to the movie being filmed during real race weekends, gave the blockbuster a realistic backdrop, albeit with a bit of Hollywood sprinkled over it. 

F1 drivers from the 2023 and 2024 seasons appeared in the film alongside the star-studded cast, with drivers such as Alex Albon, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, George Russell and Fernando Alonso making cameos. Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton not only appeared in the film as himself, he also served as executive producer on the production.

Brad Pitt, Damson Idris

Photo by: Erik Junius

The film has seen immense success since its June 2025 release, exceeding $630million at the global box office. As a result, it comes as no surprise that a sequel is already in the works, as confirmed by producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

"We're working on a sequel," he told the BBC.

"It was a long journey to get the movie made because we had to endure a couple of strikes – but in the end, the movie entertained audiences around the world," he said of F1 at the Academy Awards luncheon in Los Angeles. "I never worked with Brad Pitt before and it's really a thrill to work with Brad."