Watching Hamilton, Norris, and Verstappen take their cars off the grid at the Miami Grand Prix is a thrilling experience. The cars they are driving are in close formation as they head for turn one, but this race is a little different. Firstly, both drivers for each manufacturer are in the same car, with one driving and the other sitting behind them. Secondly, their cars are made entirely of Lego.
Lego’s multi-year partnership with Formula One was first announced at the Las Vegas race back in October 2024, but for the Miami Grand Prix, it built full-size versions of each of the 10 manufacturers’ cars in the race. The cars look like scaled-up versions of the Lego Speed Champions models you can now buy, and were on sale at the next stand at the race.
What it didn’t reveal until the parade, though, was that unlike previous full-size models, these can all be driven. Underneath the Lego frame is a proper automotive base, with a steel frame, 8Kw electric motor, Perrelli P Zero F1 slick tyres and hydraulic brakes. Inside the driver’s cab is a functioning Lego race steering wheel and pedals, all adjustable to suit the driver.
Against the clock
The Lego engineers were given just eight months to develop and build all 10 cars, to create something that not only looked authentic, but could take a full lap of the 5.3 km circuit in under 20 mins – the time given for the drivers’ parade.
Lego designer, Jonatan Jurion said one of the biggest challenges was the time limit. “We usually do one at a time. We were also wondering how to do the detailing, the functions and seating. We started by creating a mock-up of the cockpit and then building everything around it, so that would, define the scale and the proportions if we need it.”
Proprietary software is used by Lego to develop the main build of the car out of its trademark bricks. Then, it’s specialist designers worked on the forms and even how to display the sponsor logos in Lego form.
Building up speed
Each car is constructed from around 400,000 Lego bricks and took 2,000 man-hours to build. It uses standard bricks, so in theory, anyone with enough Lego in their collection could build this, just not make it drive. All of those bricks mean it’s actually pretty heavy compared to the regular Formula One cars, at roughly 1.5 tons.
The engineers had to find a way to get the Lego structure to work successfully with the Formula One wheels. “It was extremely challenging because we needed to make a connection between the Lego car and original rims. Also we had an extremely short steering rate, because there is not enough space for standard steering gear,” said Lego engineer, Martin Smida.
Lego on pole
The cars are being used for the driver’s parade but that didn’t mean that the pro race drivers were going to take the race any less seriously. These Lego cars might only have a top speed of around 20kmh, but the drivers eked out every last bit of power as they headed into the corners. There was a little contact at one point, as Lego bricks scattered from the nose of the Alpine, but the cars continued unphased.
So, who were the best Lego drivers? While Lewis and Leclerc in the Ferrari did take the lead for a while, it was Gasly and Doohan in the Alpine that finished first. A very different result from the one that came later that afternoon in the considerably faster and louder F1 cars.
