F1 The Movie' Wins the Academy Award for Best Sound

Featuring audio from practice sessions, qualifying races, and Grand Prix races, the film represents Apple's sports-media ambitions

At Sunday night's Academy Awards ceremony, the primary audio award for overall achievement in sound design, editing, and mixing celebrated the convergence of sound, storytelling, and sports.

The award for Best Sound went to F1 The Movie, a loud and thrilling cinematic portrayal of Formula 1 motorsports. The film's main sound team of supervising sound editor/sound designer Al Nelson, supervising sound editor Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, re-recording mixers Juan Peralta and Gary Rizzo, and production sound mixer Gareth John led a larger crew of more than 50 specialists - location-sound recorders, Foley artists, ASR mixers, and other technicians - in a sonic re-creation of F1 heroics that put viewers in the cockpits and the stands.

The team collaborated with the Formula One Media & Broadcast Center near London, which gave director Joseph Kosinski and his sound team unprecedented access to the 2023-24 Grand Prix season. Much of the audio produced at the center came from 150 microphones positioned around tracks to capture sounds from practice sessions, qualifying races, and the Grand Prix races.

Our collaboration with Formula 1 included working very closely with their broadcast team, said Kosinski in an interview with Variety. We integrated our recording equipment into their pipeline, which allowed us to capture 4K imagery from over 20 of their trackside cameras simultaneously and uncompressed sound from the nearly 100 microphones surrounding the circuit. His stated goal was to place audiences inside a racing car and have them feel like they were going 200 mph.

The film was mixed in Dolby Atmos, which made extensive use of the format's overhead and rear-surround imaging capabilities.

Details, Details

Though less noted, one of the more remarkable accomplishments of the endeavor was that virtually all the cars on the film's various sets and locations during and around many Grand Prix weekends were actually Formula 2 machines, not the modern hybrid F1 cars portrayed. Therefore, nearly all engine audio had to be totally re-created.

F1 The Movie's Oscar success comes at a time when the sport is on the ascent in the U.S. In October, Apple - which produced the film under its Apple Original Film aegis and initially streamed it exclusively on Apple TV+ - announced a five-year broadcast partnership with F1 starting this year, replacing ESPN.

The deal allows F1 to expand into new digital territory: in addition to showing events on Apple TV, the tech giant will amplify the sport across its News, Maps, Music, Sports, and Fitness platforms. Five F1 races will play in U.S. IMAX movie theaters this year as part of the partnership. Also this year, Audi, Cadillac (using Ferrari engines), and Ford (providing engines for the Oracle Red Bull Racing) have joined the F1 lineup.

Although the music score for F1 The Movie wasn't nominated (due, possibly, to composer Hans Zimmer's chronic shortage of awards-shelf space), the film did spawn an all-star soundtrack recording. It features music from 21 artists - including Ed Sheeran, Burna Boy, Chris Stapleton, Sexxy Red, and Doja Cat - as well as elements from Zimmer's score, which is a combination of orchestral and electronic music. The score did win at least one accolade of its own: the Association of Motion Picture Sound's 2026 Award for Excellence in Sound for a Feature Film.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2026/03/17/f1-the-movie-wins-the-academy-a...
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