The F1 Movie Cheats to Win

Seventeen years ago, Formula One had its worst night.

- RAJA SEN

The Singapore Grand Prix was F1's first night race, held in the middle of a bustling, spectacular city, and attending fans—me included—were awash in happy hour enthusiasm. All memories of merriment, however, have since been overshadowed by the fact that this was the only F1 race in its 75-year-history to have been "fixed," where a driver was instructed by a team to intentionally crash his car at a specific time—in order to give his teammate an advantage. It is a damnable thing to cheat at sport, but to do this with Formula One is recklessly vile, given the sport's gladiatorial tally of death. One wrong move and people die.

An intentional crash is the most shameful thing, and all those found guilty of colluding during the 2008 Singapore race were given lifelong bans. Not that you'd know this from Joseph Kosinski's F1 where Brad Pitt plays an aging racecar driver who frequently, and openly, keeps crashing his car into opponents in order to help his teammate score points. Not only does he repeatedly pull this hideous move, but the film disgracefully treats it like a stroke of genius, as if a brave driver has found a "hack," and that other teams are befuddled by it. This isn't true. The only reason nobody does this is because it isn't—and should never be—allowed.

Cinematic license is well and good, and I acknowledge that this is purely fantasy—watching a 60-year-old F1 driver is the stuff of dreams for Fernando Alonso, 43, the oldest man on the grid—but the idea of valorizing an unforgivable incident is bizarre.