Speed Champions

F1 ACADEMY LEGO Race Car

A small, sharp tribute to the drivers actually racing under the F1 Academy banner.

Brick Rated Score

4.0/5

Set 77258 · 2026

Pieces201

Minifigs1

Year2026

Set number77258

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The verdict

I like that this one exists at all.

Speed Champions has built dozens of cars around men's teams and drivers, so a set built around F1 Academy, the all women single seater series, feels overdue rather than like a gimmick. At 201 pieces and under thirty dollars it's not going to challenge your shelf space or your wallet, and the build itself is quick, closer to an evening unwind than a weekend project. What sold me is the driver figure, printed in F1 Academy race gear rather than a generic recolor, which is more effort than these small sets usually get. If you collect Speed Champions or you follow F1 Academy specifically, this earns its spot. If you want a meaty build or a car you'll spend hours on, look higher up the range.

Best for: Speed Champions completists and F1 Academy fans who want the series represented on the shelf

The full review

What it is

This is a small car with a bigger idea behind it. Speed Champions has spent years building 8 wide versions of Ferraris, McLarens and Red Bulls, so turning that same format toward F1 Academy, the development series for women drivers that feeds into F1 itself, is the kind of set I want the theme to keep making. The car is unmistakably a Speed Champions build, low and wide with the chunky rear wing and low profile tires the line is known for, and it goes together in well under an hour.

The catch

I'll be straight with you about where the money goes. At 201 pieces you're paying for the idea and the minifigure as much as the model. The body doesn't have a lot of complex layering or clever part usage, it's a fairly direct build, so if what you love about Speed Champions is the engineering tricks in the bigger 300 plus piece cars, this one won't scratch that itch. It's also brand new for 2026, which means I can't tell you yet whether it holds value or turns into a quiet retirement like plenty of smaller Speed Champions sets do.

Who it's for

Get this one if you're building out a Speed Champions collection and want the roster to include F1 Academy, or if you or a young racing fan in your life follows the series and wants that specific car on the desk. Skip it if you're shopping for a standalone gift and want something with more build time, in that case one of the flagship team cars in the same theme will hold attention longer.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

Building this one is a quick, low friction session rather than an engineering puzzle. Speed Champions cars in this size bracket go together in clear stages, chassis first, then the body panels click over the top, and there isn't much backtracking or fiddly sub assembly. It's a good hand off build if you want something to finish in one sitting without notes or a second pair of eyes.

The standout here is the minifigure. Rather than reusing a generic racing suit print, the driver is done up in F1 Academy specific livery, which is the kind of small detail that tells me the design team treated this as more than a filler set in the lineup. Piece count value is modest at 201 pieces for the price, typical for the smaller end of Speed Champions, so the appeal leans on the car's identity and that figure rather than raw part count.

Fun facts

01F1 Academy is the all women single seater racing series founded to build a pipeline of female talent toward Formula 1, and this set is one of LEGO's first Speed Champions releases built specifically around that series rather than a men's F1 team.
02The set uses LEGO's now standard 8 wide Speed Champions body style, the width the theme moved to so cars can carry more realistic proportions and printed detail than the older 6 wide format.
03At 201 pieces and a sub thirty dollar price point, it sits at the small end of the Speed Champions range, closer to the entry level cars than the larger flagship team sets.
04The minifigure is printed specifically for this set rather than a recolored stock racing driver figure, which is unusual attention for a set at this price tier.