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FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of F1 (Hans Zimmer)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... to forget any semblance of dynamic range or subtle
intellectualism in this brutally propulsive exercise in sonically
stimulated semen production.
Avoid it... if the only thing that annoys you more than Hans Zimmer's mindless, low-range synthetic masculinity is hearing it blended with orchestral strings that sound just like their sampled counterparts.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
F1: (Hans Zimmer) A qualified wet dream for
enthusiasts of fast cars that waste fuel, 2025's F1 assembles an
extraordinary number of people and interests involved with Formula One
(F1) racing to glorify the activity. It also provides a redemption story
for the main characters involved, especially an aging driver played by
Brad Pitt. Injured in a crash back in the 1990's and racing nomadically
since then while battling the lingering physical and mental effects of
that accident, he is brought into a struggling racing team decades later
by an old colleague and friend as means of salvaging that team's very
existence after countless poor showings. From there, the driver, Hayes,
does all the things you expect from Pitt in such a role: spar with
younger drivers, crash his cars, woo the pretty female technical
director for the team, come to terms with his limitations, finally win a
big race, voluntarily disappear back into obscurity at the end, and look
unreasonably good for his age while doing all of that. A massive
collection of real-life Formula One drivers and screen personalities
cameo in the movie, in part because of involvement by those in the
production at higher levels. But it's also a Jerry Bruckheimer film
directed by Top Gun: Maverick's Joseph Kosinski, which means that
the project is inevitably a giant dick-waving contest with enough
testosterone to drive up anyone's red blood cell count. Thus enter the
king of masculine music, Hans Zimmer, whose role in the industry has
become so stereotyped that parody songs are made about the unyieldingly
manly tone of his music. The composer is no stranger to the auto racing
subject, having written moderately successful music for Days of
Thunder and Rush, and for this assignment, he tapped his lead
assistant, Steve Mazzaro, to help flesh out his score. The movie, of
course, was destined to contain a bevy of songs that in this case were
chosen in part because of their artists' affiliations with Apple, the
studio. There was plenty of airtime for Zimmer in the movie, however,
and he responded with perhaps the most brazenly masculine score of his
entire career. Forget any semblance of dynamic range or subtle
intellectualism in this brutally propulsive exercise in sonically
stimulated semen production.
As an added bonus, Zimmer also provided the universe with some of his usual, eye roll-inducing and sometimes nonsensical quotes about his music for F1. His pontificating about the film sent him down the most obvious path for what artificial intelligence would conjure of a Hans Zimmer quote generator, suggesting that his synthesizers represent the machines (the cars) and the orchestra represents the drivers (the humans with nice make-up). If that doesn't solicit a "no shit" response, then what would? He went further, however, by stating that "one of the great things about the electronics is they make things slightly unpredictable." That line is perhaps the most humorous one to originate from Zimmer in a while, because his synths have come to produce the most predictable sounds of any composer in the world. Anyone wanting truly creative and unpredictable synthetics can appreciate Rob Simonsen's concurrent Elio. Meanwhile, Zimmer instead provides the quintessential Zimmer score, the mix of the orchestral and electronic blend extremely heavily weighted towards the synths, which dominate the soundscape to such an extent that some listeners may not even notice any acoustic personality to the music at all. A string section seems to be the major representative of the organic side, but they sound processed per usual and may as well have been their sampled alternatives given their simplistic performance inflection. Brass tones finally shine in "Three Laps is a Lifetime" but don't really matter in the larger scheme of things. On the flip side is the heavy volume of the work, the synth arrays joined by electric guitar and muted percussion over keyboarded loops to supply the synthetic majority. Zimmer and Mazzaro concentrated the most on finding the tempo of each scene more than any other factor. The lead composer indicated that the film generally has a tempo that he never wanted to slow down, even during conversations, though regardless of what he says on the topic, there are actually ambient cues for slower character scenes. The thumping loops of the score most frequently pound away at minor third intervals, simplistic and juvenile at every turn. The overall lack of variance in emotional tone throughout the work is partly related to the tempo issue, though the attitude of the music is so hopelessly brutal and masculine that any true sensitivity was lost before the pacing was even considered. Although much of the score for F1 is Exhibit 1 in the case for smash-mouth, bass-heavy film music of Zimmer's preferred style, there are some passages that are neither exciting nor irritating, delving into lesser muck. These include cues like "Keep It in One Piece" and "Elbows Out," which are a wasteland in which the only emotional divergence comes with the cue's individual intensity, which can vary significantly in this work despite the shared ballsy attitude. For enthusiasts of Zimmer's prior two race-oriented scores, the composer does throw intriguing hints of thematic material from Days of Thunder late in "It's All Just Noise" as perhaps a wink and nod, and this presence continues awkwardly in the middle of "Elbows Out." As expected, Zimmer does offer a consistent set of themes to F1, the main one divided into anthemic and character duties in two variants over shared chord progressions for Hayes while the secondary theme represents everything else in the more contemplative passages. (The former informs the song "Lose My Mind" by Don Toliver in the film.) The Hayes thematic duo is led by its anthemic version that contains its complete series of notes; the other version grossly simplifies the progressions to the same chords. Interestingly, the condensed version of the theme is far more memorable, especially as it prevails at the score's end. Its simple, repetitive phrasing alters its middle high note while remaining otherwise rooted, making it easy to dwell upon. The fullest form of the theme announces its anthemic mode over techno beats at 0:42 into "F1," and listeners will note early similarities to the underlying rhythms of Mission: Impossible 2 in this cue. The condensed version of the melody is carried by low strings at 2:23. This Hayes material repetitively drives momentum in the middle of "Anything You Wish You'd Done Differently?" and grinds on strings over synths and percussion in the middle of "Run for the Podium." The anthemic version of the theme tries to state optimism in the first half of "Built for Combat" and busts out on insanity-inducing rhythms in "Drive Fast," where rock percussion takes over. The latter cue is truly awful in its terrible looped noises, the simplified version of the theme raising its hand late in that rhythmic muck. The theme's chords and meandering plucked guitar accompaniment hint the anthem in "Tell Me About Kate" while that identity explodes on electric guitar in the middle of "No One Drives Forever," where there's almost a 1980's tone to its cheeky bravado. Serving as an interlude is the simplified version of the theme in this cue, though strings take the main anthemic melody for the main somewhat organic rendition of the idea. Zimmer remains very faithful to his sibling identities for Hayes in the latter half of F1, but the anthem is barely impactful in the mindlessly thumping "Lining Up on the Grid." The simple version dominates late on grating, manipulated keyboard tones in this cue, pieces of the anthem haunting the very end in violin suspense. Both thematic variants toil early with anticipation in "Red Flag," though the simplified version comes out victorious in the last minute. As its role is diminished in the score, the anthem is stunted in fragments during "Three Laps is a Lifetime," allowing the simplified version to take over in the cue's midsection for electronica action. Finally, this theme overlaps with the secondary character one for a massive rendition at end of the cue, and that more linear variation closes "See You Down the Road" with a final crescendo of grim fortitude. The lack of any catharsis for the anthem form of the main theme is a detriment to the listening experience apart from the film. Zimmer's secondary theme applies wandering phrases with shifting harmonies underneath for softer interactions, and it's not a particularly memorable idea. Quickly opening "Anything You Wish You'd Done Differently?," this theme is barely intact at the end of "Run for the Podium" on solo keyboard and stews quietly in "Road to Recovery" on wayward synths with vague string backing. It offers hints in the second half of "Built for Combat" and tries to express some warmth on medium strings in "No One Drives Forever" but fails, the same occurrence repeating in "It's All Just Noise." The character theme comes to peace with the main theme at the heroic ending to "Three Laps is a Lifetime" and completes its role on contemplative strings over hazy ambience in "See You Down the Road." Don't expect to remember this idea at all. One of the reasons these lesser cues fade into the background is because the score has significant loudness equalization problems on album. The "cinematic edition" of the album appends a healthy amount of score to the songs, and the presentation does not adequately elevate the volume of the quieter tracks in relation to Zimmer's blasting, groin-oriented sequences. On the whole, F1 is a simplistic, repetitive, and mindless score that will appeal to listeners who don't fuss hearing him pound away in his trashiest masculine mode. There's simply no satisfying modulation to the bass-dwelling tone of his music; the dick-waving portions are all loudly propulsive with punching synths, percussion, and strings that sound like synths. And the lesser portions are essentially the same sound just dialed back. It's the least appealing of the composer's three racing scores, but some might find it about the same quality if they really loved the prior two. May the parodies of Zimmer's style live on. **
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 115:07
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes a list of performers but no extra information about the score or film.
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