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How Apple Secretly Filmed a Hollywood Movie in Real F1 Races

Andru Edwards • 2025-06-20 • 5:22 minutes • YouTube

📚 Chapter Summaries (6)

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How Apple Used iPhone Sensors to Revolutionize Filming an F1 Movie

Have you ever wondered what it truly feels like to drive a Formula 1 car at 200 miles per hour—from inside the cockpit? Hollywood often uses green screens or CGI to simulate the thrill of racing, but Apple took a radically different approach for the upcoming F1 movie by leveraging the power of iPhone technology. At Apple’s WWDC event, a groundbreaking project was revealed that blends cutting-edge smartphone camera tech with the adrenaline-pumping world of Formula 1 racing.

The Challenge: Capturing the Real F1 Experience on Film

Director Joseph Kosinski, known for the blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick, sought a fresh way to portray racing that goes beyond traditional broadcast footage or bulky GoPro cameras. He wanted viewers to feel the raw intensity—the vibrations, the G-forces, and the visceral speed—from the driver’s perspective.

However, mounting a traditional cinema camera on a $10 million F1 car was simply not an option. Such cameras are too large, heavy, and would interfere with the car's aerodynamics, potentially compromising performance and safety. Broadcast cameras already installed on F1 cars focus on live transmission and lack the cinematic qualities that a film demands, such as high dynamic range, motion blur, and rich color depth.

The Innovation: Custom Apple Cameras Inside Real F1 Cars

Apple’s solution was to create a custom camera module based on the iPhone 15 Pro’s sensor and silicon. This tiny yet powerful camera was engineered to fit inside the exact housing of the standard F1 car camera fin, matching the weight and shape perfectly, so it wouldn’t affect the car’s aerodynamics or violate FIA regulations.

But this camera was no ordinary smartphone camera. It shoots full 4K video in ProRes format, supports log color profiles, and uses ND filters to control exposure—features that are staples of professional cinema cameras. It’s built to withstand the extreme heat, vibration, and G-forces experienced in racing, even keeping Face ID sensors intact under intense conditions.

Collaboration with F1 Legends and Teams

The project was a massive collaboration between Apple’s hardware engineers, Mercedes F1 engineers, and even legendary driver Lewis Hamilton, who served as a producer and racing consultant. Around 20 of these custom camera modules were developed and installed across various mounting points on the race cars—nose, cockpit, side pods, and more—enabling filmmakers to capture never-before-seen angles.

After each run, the raw, uncompressed footage was downloaded directly from the car via an iPad connected through a Lightning cable, right in the pit lane. During real Grand Prix races, Apple’s camera modules replaced the official FIA camera housings on cars from teams like Ferrari and Red Bull, capturing authentic racing action live on the track.

The Result: Cinematic, Immersive Racing Footage

The actors Brad Pitt and Damson Idris drove modified real F1 cars on actual tracks at speeds nearing 180 mph, filmed with up to 15 camera mount points per car. This approach yielded stunning shots—from a nose cam mere inches above the ground to cameras aimed directly into the driver’s eyes during high-speed corners.

The footage seamlessly blends with traditional $100,000 cinema camera shots, delivering the cinematic color grading, motion blur, and raw G-force sensations that transport audiences into the heart of Formula 1 racing like never before.

Impact Beyond the Movie: iPhone 15 Pro’s Camera Tech

Remarkably, the innovations developed for this film—the log capture capabilities, advanced color workflows, and camera control apps—have been integrated into the iPhone 15 Pro itself. This means the same technology that helped create a Hollywood racing epic is literally in the pockets of millions of people worldwide.

Apple’s F1 camera project highlights that sometimes the real limits are not in the hardware, but in the imagination to push technology further. It’s a perfect example of what happens when a company builds technology not just for practicality, but for the sheer thrill of innovation.

Final Thoughts

Watching the F1 movie premiere at the Steve Jobs Theater was an unforgettable experience, but seeing it on an IMAX screen promises to be even more spectacular. Apple’s fusion of smartphone camera tech with the high-octane world of Formula 1 racing has set a new standard for immersive filmmaking.

If you’re fascinated by the intersection of technology and storytelling, stay tuned for more updates from Apple’s WWDC and beyond. The future of cinematic innovation is literally in your hands.

Author: Andru Edwards
For more tech insights and exclusive behind-the-scenes content, subscribe and stay updated with the latest from Apple and the world of filmmaking.

📝 Transcript Chapters (6 chapters):

📝 Transcript (101 entries):

## Apple Used iPhone Sensors to Shoot F1 [00:00] Have you ever wondered what it actually feels like to drive a Formula 1 car at 200 miles per hour from the driver's seat? Usually when Hollywood wants to show you the speed of racing, it's either a green screen or some overproduced CGI. But what if I told you the most cinematic racing footage ever was shot using iPhone tech? And the secret is literally in your pocket. I recently took part in a wild, top secret briefing at Apple's WWDC. see and what they showed us honestly kind of broke my brain. ## Apple Custom F1 Car Camera [00:34] Apple has built a custom camera based on the same sensor found in an iPhone 15 Pro, and they shoved it inside a real F1 car in order to shoot a movie. Director Joseph Kosinski, the same guy who made Top Gun Maverick, wanted something we've never seen before. Forget the broadcast angles. Forget the GoPro action cams. He wanted moviegoers to feel what an F1 driver feels. every vibration, every insane G-Force from inside the cockpit. But here's the problem. You can't just bolt a cinema camera onto a $10 million race car. If it didn't go flying off the vehicle after the first tight turn, it'll definitely mess up the aerodynamics and weight. These were real cars competing in real races while outfitted with the Apple cameras. So Apple did what Apple does. They built a custom camera brain using the iPhone 15 Pro sensor, the chip, and even the battery, but shrunk it down and disguised it to look exactly like the tiny camera fin housing every F1 car already uses. It's the same weight, same shape, but on the inside, it's pure apple silicon. But here's the thing. Even that wasn't enough to get true Hollywood magic out of an F1 car. So what was missing? ## Why Were Special Cameras Necessary for F1? [01:54] Every F1 car already has a broadcast camera on top. That's what you see on TV. But those cameras are built for one thing, live transmission. The video quality isn't that great. The color is pretty flat. The footage is okay for TV, but if you were to blow it up for use on an IMAX screen, it would just fall apart. Cinema cameras are too big and heavy. Go-pros are great for skydiving, but not for capturing dynamic range, motion blur, and everything a Hollywood film demands. And that's why what Apple did is crazy. They took the best parts of a smartphone camera and engineered it for Formula, This custom module could shoot in full 4K in ProRes using log color with ND filters on the lens to control exposure. It can handle heat, vibration, even the G forces that would shake the Face ID sensor right out of an iPhone. Now they built about 20 of these things and get this, they even had to add weight to the camera to make it match the original F1 camera for the FIA rules. And as well as that sounds, actually building and racing with these kids. cameras is where the story goes into overdrive. ## The Tech Behind the F1 Camera with iPhone Sensor [03:00] You see, this wasn't just a tech flex. This was months of R&D with Apple's hardware team, Mercedes F1 engineers, and even Lewis Hamilton, who, by the way, signed on as a producer and racing consultant. Apple's camera module could be popped into any of the car's 15 custom mounting spots, on the nose, in the cockpit, side pods, you name it. And they control it all by plugging an iPad into the car after each run, connected over lightning, to download the raw uncompressed footage right there in the pit lane. Oh, and when they needed to film during an actual F1 race, Apple's module replaced the official F1 camera housing, so real teams like Ferrari or Red Bull were literally running Apple Tech on their cars, collecting movie footage in the middle of the Real Grand Prix. ## Bringing a Feeling of Realism to the F1 Movie [03:48] Brad Pitt and Dams and Edris are driving real modified race cars at real tracks in front of actual crowds that speeds pushing 180 miles per hour. The movie cars have 15 camera mount points, meaning you get wild angles you've never seen, like nose cam, inches off the ground, or a lens aimed straight into the driver's eyes mid-corner. And the result? You can't tell which shots came from the iPhone-based camera and which came from a $100,000 cinema rig. It all cuts together seamlessly. You get the full Hollywood look, cinematic color, deep motion blur, raw G4 shaking, captured at the actual speed, of Formula One. All the innovations Apple built for this movie, ## The F1 Camera Tech Included in iPhone 15 Pro and Beyond [04:26] the log capture, the color workflow, the control apps, those all ended up in the iPhone 15 Pro. So the same tech that let Brad Pitt star in a racing epic is in many ways the same camera tech you're carrying around with you right now. And I think it's proof that sometimes, the limitations of the gear you already own are less about the hardware and more about the imagination to push it further. In the F1 movie, it's what happens when a tech company builds something just for the thrill of it. I was able to watch the premiere of F1 at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park and I thought the movie was great, but honestly, I cannot wait to watch this in IMAX. For more from WWDC, be sure to check out the other videos I've already dropped and I have more coming as well, so be sure you're subscribed so you don't miss those. Thanks for watching as always guys. I appreciate your support. I'm Andru Edwards and I will catch you in the next video.