Apple's 'F1' Wins Best Sound at 98th Academy Awards

Apple's F1 took home the Academy Award for Best Sound at the 98th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday, adding to an awards-season run that has included wins at the BAFTAs, Critics Choice Awards, and Cinema Audio Society Awards.

The film, directed by Joseph Kosinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, received four Oscar nominations this cycle, including Best Picture. It has already cemented itself as the highest-grossing sports feature in box office history and is now streaming globally on Apple TV+.

The Oscar adds another layer to what has been Apple Studios' most commercially significant release. The film's production budget reportedly exceeded $250 million, and analysts have pegged its breakeven north of $1 billion — making the awards-season momentum as much a brand equity play as a theatrical one. For Apple, the calculus has always extended beyond the box office: culturally relevant hits drive subscribers to Apple TV+, and an Academy Award sharpens that halo effect considerably.

F1 stars Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes, a washed-up 1990s racing phenom who returns to the grid alongside rookie driver Joshua Pearce, played by Damson Idris. Javier Bardem rounds out the leads as the team owner who engineers the comeback. The film's sound work captured the visceral intensity of Formula 1 racing — an element critics and awards bodies have consistently singled out across the season.

The win extends Apple's growing Oscar footprint. The streamer won Best Picture in 2022 with CODA, the first streaming-originated film to claim the top prize, followed by an Animated Short Film win for The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse in 2023. Apple Original films and series have now accumulated 773 wins and over 3,300 nominations to date.

F1 also earned nominations from SAG-AFTRA, the Producers Guild, the Golden Globes, and the Grammys, among others.