F1: The Film director Joseph Kosinski explains why Brad Pitt’s Sonny Hayes retains a taking part in card in his pocket. From Kosinski and Ehren Kruger, the director and co-writer of High Gun: Maverick, the brand new film stars Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes, a nomadic racer-for-hire and former Components One driver who returns to the motorsport after a 30-year absence to mentor a rookie driver on the fictional APXGP workforce.
Within the film, one in every of Sonny’s many superstitions is that he locations a single taking part in card within the pocket of his jumpsuit earlier than every race, a ritual which the movie leaves largely unexplained.
Throughout an interview with GQ, Kosinski defined why Sonny retains a taking part in card in his pocket. The director says that Sonny’s card ritual displays how drivers, going through life-threatening dangers on the racetrack, cling to superstitions for a way of management. He added that Pitt shared this mindset and had his personal private race-day rituals whereas filming:
I feel it comes from doing one thing the place you’re placing your life in danger daily. Brad additionally has superstitions. He would solely get into the automotive from the left facet, and he needed to put one shoe on first, after which the opposite.
Kosinski says the taking part in card additionally symbolizes Sonny’s connection to his father, who was additionally a gambler, making the ritual each a private talisman and a tribute to his previous:
His father was a gambler, and we favored that notion being a part of his ritual as effectively.
It is Half Superstition & Image
F1: The Film explores Sonny Hayes’ backstory, revealing that he used to race for the Components One workforce Lotus within the Nineties, although a severe crash on the 1993 Spanish Grand Prix ended his Components One profession for the subsequent 30 years. Within the years after his crash, Sonny struggled with a playing habit and in addition went via three failed marriages.
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Joseph Kosinski’s F1: The Film brings the pulse-pounding motion of Components One racing to the massive display screen, together with some extremely darkish moments.
As Sonny’s previous proves, Components One drivers face life-or-death dangers each time they take to the monitor. This, Kosinski suggests, is why many drivers undertake superstitions, similar to Sonny’s behavior of slipping a single taking part in card into his pocket earlier than every race. When one is continually going through the potential for demise, such rituals naturally emerge and may help a driver really feel a way of management.
Nonetheless, Sonny’s taking part in card ritual will not be purely a superstition, because it additionally represents his previous as a playing addict, in addition to symbolizing his connection along with his father, who was additionally a gambler and taught him tips on how to race.
Our Take On Sonny’s Card Ritual In F1: The Film
What’s The Card At The Finish?
Although Sonny slips a single taking part in card into his pocket earlier than every race, he by no means really appears on the face till F1‘s ending, after he wins the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Nonetheless, the cardboard will not be revealed to the viewers, leaving viewers to take a position about what it may very well be, or if it even issues.
The one idea I’ve is that the cardboard may very well be the seven of spades, since it is a outstanding badge on his jumpsuit. In any other case, the cardboard actually does not matter; what issues is that, by taking a look at his fortunate taking part in card, Sonny breaks free from his superstition and realizes that he, not destiny, is answerable for his life.
F1: The Film is taking part in in theaters.
Supply: GQ
F1
8/10
- Launch Date
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June 27, 2025
- Director
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Joseph Kosinski
- Writers
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Ehren Kruger
- Producers
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Brad Pitt, Chad Oman, Jerry Bruckheimer, Jeremy Kleiner, Lewis Hamilton, Joseph Kosinski, Dede Gardner
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Damson Idris
Joshua ‘Noah’ Pearce