‘F1’ director Joseph Kosinski reveals alternate endings, sequel plans

Warning: This article contains spoilers for F1: The Movie.

Everyone loves an underdog.

In a sense, the conclusion of F1: The Movie, now in theaters, offers an underdog victory as owner Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) and his entire APXGP (casually called Apex) team come out on top, winning both the World Drivers’ Championship and full support from the APX board.

It also finally gives Brad Pitt’s Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), the once-promising driver looking for a shot at redemption, the victory he’s long chased. In the film’s final sequence, it seems as if Sonny is going to clear the way for his rookie teammate, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), to take the title and win the race. But at the last minute, Joshua collides with Lewis Hamilton (also an F1 producer), leaving the door open for Sonny to take the lead — and the win. At last, Sonny can call himself a world champion.

But director and co-writer Joseph Kosinski reveals that they did at least consider sticking with what the film appears to be setting up and giving Joshua Pearce the title. “We discussed the ending a lot, and there’s certainly a version where that happens,” Kosinski tells Entertainment Weekly. “But ultimately, where we landed was the culmination of Sonny’s story.”

It helps that Joshua is still “at the beginning of his career,” the director continues. “Like he says to Sonny, ‘I’m going to win a million, mate.’ So it feels like Sonny has achieved what he needs to achieve, but Joshua is just at the start of an incredible career.”

Indeed, Sonny feels so secure in his victory and finally proving himself in the world of Formula One that he seems to put APX in his rearview mirror. Instead of sticking around, he travels to Baja, Mexico, to inquire about the dune races and a “driver wanted” ad he sees in the film’s opening sequence (even though we’ve now learned that any one crash could kill him instantly because of injuries from a racing accident that nearly took him out 30 years ago).

“I’m sure for him that’s a way to go,” Kosinski says of Sonny perhaps having a death wish behind the wheel. “But I don’t think that’s in the plan anytime soon. For him, it’s just, what’s the next challenge? What’s the next mountain to climb? And Baja is something that’s completely different than Formula One and would be a really fun adventure to see him on.”

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Speaking of which, is there a world in which we’d see Sonny racing in Baja — or anywhere, for that matter? Kosinski admits he does have ideas in mind for a potential sequel.

“But that’s up to the audience to decide if they want to see it,” he notes. “I loved working with this group of people. I loved creating our own Formula One team. I’d love to see what’s up next for APXGP and Sonny Hayes.”

F1 is in theaters now.