There is one sport that happens to be not only the most expensive to run but also the most boring to watch – Formula 1 racing.

The money spent on it is obscene, with teams facing budgets of a staggering $400 million a year, with a single car costing between $12-20 million to build.

It’s all done for the purpose that audiences will watch the cars go around, and around, and around, and around various courses, with an average speed of 200 mph. It really is a case of blink and you’ll miss it.

It’s a sport riddled with risks, and it’s matched by Apple Studios who decided to back this project, with a $200-300 million budget, with the hope they were onto a winner with Brad Pitt in the cockpit.

Having spent a varied career as a car racing driver is Sonny Hayes (Pitt). He started off in Formula 1 racing, but 30 years ago he had an awful crash in the Spanish Grand Prix, which has since seen him take part in all types of races, like his current in the 24 Hours of Daytona, just doing what he loves.

After it he’s approached by an old friend, Rubén Cervantes (Javier Bardem), whom he used to race with in F1 back in the day.

Rubén’s come a long way since then, and actually owns an F1 team, APXGP, but he’s struggling. Which is why he’s tracked Sonny down for his help. His main driver just left for another team, and there are only nine races left, and he has to win at least one of them, otherwise he will lose the team completely.

Sonny agrees, for their old friendship’s sakes, and soon finds himself at the Silverstone race track in England. It’s there that he meets the other team driver, the young, inexperienced Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), who soon turns out to be as much of an obstacle as winning races, making his time on the team even more challenging.

Even if you don’t give an F1 about this particular sport, director Joseph Kosinski does enough to make his film worth following.

Technically it’s thrilling, especially with the low gravity, in-the-cockpit point of view, making the driving sequences highly immersive. So much so that, if you’re a driver, you may feel your foot hitting the floor as if breaking, with the cars on the tracks travelling at breakneck speeds.

It’s very glossy and authentic, and certainly helps cutting out the majority of the many laps in races, with editing making it all pleasingly zippy.

The film’s plot, as well as the way the narrative is shot, gives it a ‘classic’ sheen, as the story is formulaic in itself, and much like the courses shown, you can see where everything is going exactly, every turn and corner.

Thankfully the performances make it appealing, especially those of Pit and Idris, who have a defined yin yang relationship, which again is obvious where it’s going.

The story is undeniably predictable, but thanks to Kosinski’s vision, the film’s breathless action sequences behave much like the soft slick compound tires on the racing cars do – gripping.