Unfinished business

Over Christmas, I finally got round to watching the Brad Pitt Formula One movie.

Predictably, it wasn’t the racing that stayed with me. It was the nostalgia.. and more specifically, how the film traces the arc of one driver’s career.

Early on, we’re shown the Pitt and Javier Bardem characters depicted as two young Lotus teammates. At that point, the future must have felt open-ended. Success is assumed, not yet earned.

Fast-forward to today and their paths have diverged. One is still driving. The other now owns a team.

What struck me was the quiet idea that Pitt’s character remains competitive precisely because he has unfinished business. He never succeeded the first time around. Champions who return are often trying to relive something they’ve already ‘done’. That rarely ends well. The hunger is dulled by closure.

This character is different. He isn’t protecting a legacy or defending a title. He’s finishing a chapter that was left open when a horror crash – inspired by real Lotus driver Martin Donnelly – ended Sonny Hayes’ F1 story before he’d even won a race.

And that’s why (spoiler alert) the ending works so well. When he finally wins one, he can walk away. Not because he’s had enough, but because he’s complete.

This comeback arc is less about redemption and more about resolution. A rarer, more satisfying kind of ending.

In the real world, some people are driven by achievement. Others by unfinished sentences. And often, it’s the latter.. later in life.. who surprise us most.