RACER magazine goes to the movies and celebrates racing’s “triple crown”

Brad Pitt on the cover of the new RACER magazine? That’s a first. But it’s entirely appropriate as we get set for the release of a movie that could connect Formula 1 with an entirely new audience.

“F1” opens Friday, June 27, in North America, and June 25 for the rest of the world. (Make that June 23 if you’re lucky enough to get tickets to a fan-first premiere at one of 25 IMAX theaters around the globe.) For motorsports fans who’ve been encouraged and intrigued by F1’s embrace of its cinematic namesake, including unheard of levels of access at grands prix, but burned by previous racing Razzies such as 2001 CART clunker “Driven,” anticipation meets trepidation.   

On paper, Pitt’s star power, director Joseph Kosinksi’s eye for action (see “Top Gun: Maverick”), producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s enduring feel for what an audience wants (“Days of Thunder,” the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, as well as “Top Gun”) and, yes, Formula 1’s “Drive to Survive”-powered crossover appeal, should make this a nailed-on blockbuster. But when it comes to box office, sports movies in general, and auto racing ones in particular, are tough to predict on audience size and earning power (unless we’re talking the increasingly outlandish storylines of the “Fast & Furious” universe, which hopefully we’re not for “F1”). Whatever the outcome, “F1” has to be a positive for, well, F1, but also for motorsports in general. A rising tide lifts all boats, and when even juggernauts like NASCAR are facing challenges in attracting eyeballs and shifting tickets in a changing media landscape, auto racing engaging with mainstream culture can be no bad thing. 

In this issue of RACER (No. 334, The Racing Movies Issue), we take a look behind the scenes of the filming of “F1” and find out how the production team pulled out the stops for the most realistic track scenes. Plus, we revisit two racing movie landmarks, Steve McQueen’s minimum dialog/maximum action “Le Mans” and John Frankenheimer’s 1967 epic, “Grand Prix.”

Back in the real world, we’re looking forward to some of our favorite weeks in racing, with the Monaco Grand Prix, Indianapolis 500 and 24 Hours of Le Mans all taking center stage in what’s regarded by many as the triple crown of racing. 

Around Monte Carlo’s tight and twisty streets, starting first for the Monaco GP is as near to a race-winning certainty as it gets in Formula 1. We look at the art of putting it on the pole in the principality with local hero Charles Leclerc, who’s achieved that feat three times in his last four attempts, yet thanks to post-pole crashes and strategic miscalls, won only once. Ferrari’s struggled so far in 2025, but could the Monaco master do it again?        

For the the Indy 500, we check in with Josef Newgarden as he aims for a never-achieved three-straight wins in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” take a look back at the five other drivers who missed out on a Brickyard three-peat, and catch up with Helio Castroneves. 

Castroneves is one of those five drivers who fell short of the three-peat, but two more wins – the most recent in 2021 – put him in the rarefied air of four-time winners’ club. If he makes it five, he’d become Indy’s oldest winner. But as the 50-year-old Brazilian says, age is only a number.    

Heading into Le Mans, we’re intrigued by the possibility of two-time and reigning 24 Hours winners and 2025 WEC pacesetters Ferrari going head to head with IMSA WeatherTech Championship dominators Porsche for the overall victory – something that happened in McQueen’s “Le Mans,” but has proved elusive in the real twice-around-the-clock classic. Could this be the year when life finally imitates art?

Adding to the Porsche theme, RACER artist-in-residence Paul Laguette has illustrated all 19 of Porsche’s overall winners at La Sarthe, and we go behind the scenes at Team Penske’s Mooresville, N.C., headquarters – one of two bases for Porsche Penske Motorsport’s IMSA and WEC campaigns.      

Beyond the triple crown, we look back on the bust-to-boom career of Mick Doohan (father of recently ousted Alpine F1 driver Jack), find out where 23XI Racing is on its NASCAR Cup Series learning curve, get a strategy lesson from SRO’s GT World Challenge America crews, and explore motorsports and automotive culture in The Scene. 

We hope you enjoy the latest RACER as much as we enjoyed putting it together. And we hope you enjoy “F1” when it opens, too. Let us know what you think.

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