“F1” is exactly what summer blockbusters are supposed to be, exciting, romantic, funny, glamorous, and purely entertaining.

It has a classic set-up, and if it seems reminiscent of “Top Gun: Maverick,” it is because it has the same producer and director. It’s pretty close to the same movie with cares instead of airplanes plus a touch of “Ted Lasso.” Also, it’s a classic set-up, guys with exceptional skills and cocky attitudes showing off, having conflicts, taking risks, and overcoming obstacles, all looking very, very cool.

Formula One is ” the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars.” We’ve seen Formula One racing in films like “Rush” and “Ford vs. Ferrari,” based on true stories, and the documentary “Senna,” and Netflix series based on the life and death of Brazilian champion Artyn Senna.

Brad Pitt stars as Sonny Hayes, a race car driver who is “not a has-been but a never-was.” Once considered, with his long-time friend Reuben (Javier Bardem) to be the most promising up-and-coming young racers in Formula One, his career, like his car, went off the track. Now he takes any chance he can to race. He’d drive in a soapbox derby if that was all he could find.

Here’s how cool he is. He wins a low-stakes race with dash and skill, then waves off the trophy. He is “a guy who makes teams better.” He stops to do his laundry at a coin-op, when an old friend walks in. It is Reuben (Javier Bardem). Once they were young up-and-coming hot shots on the cover of a racing magazine. Now Reuben has an F1 team and a talented but undisciplined driver, and he needs Sonny’s help. At first, Sonny turns him down. But if he doesn’t agree to join Reuben’s team he’ll never know if he could have been the best of the best and we wouldn’t have a movie.

Reuben’s hot shot is Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), who is both threatened by and contemptuous of Sonny. He asks, ‘When was the last time you won a race.” “Sunday.” “I mean a F1 race.” “Same as you.” This is full of tough talk, like “Who said anything about safe?” Game on!

And do I need to even mention that the team’s head of car mechanics is a beautiful Irish woman named Kate (the terrific Kerry Condon of “The Banshees of Inisherin”)? Wait for the scene where they play Texas Hold ‘Em.

Fi is a place where people have many different ways of expressing emotion by the way they take off their headphones and they get excited over finding a way to cut their time by half a second.

The film mostly avoids making Pitt a sage elder. He’s not Crash Davis in “Bull Durham,” one final season as he passes the baton and some life lessons to a talented but undisciplined newcomer. (If the young competitors were talented AND disciplined there would not be much of a movie unless they had time to put in some huge setback or make him the Iceman in contrast to the Maverick.) Pitt, like Sonny, in every sense of the term is running his own race. Pitt is an actor of exceptional range but this role is smack dab in the middle of his sweet spot. He appears effortless, but it is the kind of effortlessness that requires superb understanding and control.

Like the plane scenes in “Top Gun: Maverick,” the race scenes in this film set a new standard, placing us inside the 200 mph action. For me, the pit stop scenes were some of the best, and I also liked seeing how many people it took, rows of people with headphones staring into screens almost like a rocket launch. The dialogue is sharp and smart, and if the plot twists are low in surprise they are high in satisfaction. So is this very entertaining film.

Parents should know that this movie includes intense racing scenes with some serious accidents. There are sexual references and a non-explicit situation and characters drink and use strong language.

Family discussion: How are Sonny and JP different and how are they similar? How does Sonny make teams better?

If you like this, try: “Rush,” “Grand Prix,” “Winning,” “Gran Turismo,” and “Ford vs. Ferrari”