Technic

McLaren Formula 1 Team 2022 (First Edition)

A gorgeous papaya display piece that looks faster than it builds.

Brick Rated Score

3.9/5

Set 42141 · 2022

Pieces1,432

Minifigsn/a

Year2022

Set number42141

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The verdict

This is the LEGO® set to get if you want a long, low, papaya-orange F1 car sitting on your shelf looking properly fast.

The shaping is the best part, honestly, and at 65cm it has real presence. Just go in knowing it leans more toward looks than clever Technic guts, and the sticker job is fiddly. If you love McLaren or you love display models more than gearboxes, you'll be very happy with it.

Best for: F1 and McLaren fans who want a big display model more than a mechanical puzzle

The full review

What it is

Some sets are about the journey and some are about the trophy at the end, and this one is firmly a trophy. The McLaren Formula 1 Team 2022 is a 1,432 piece Technic set that builds into a 65cm long papaya-orange racer, and the first time you set it down on a shelf it just looks right. Long, low, aggressive, unmistakably F1. LEGO worked on this alongside McLaren's own team, so the proportions and the curve of the bodywork got a lot of loving attention, and it shows. If you have even a soft spot for Formula 1, the finished car is going to make you grin.

The catch

Here's where I'll be straight with you, though. For a set this size and this price, the Technic underneath is a little thin on the ground. You get a working V6 with moving pistons, steering, a differential and pushrod suspension with the springs tucked longitudinally inside the body, which all sounds great, and it is fun to poke at. But there's no gearbox drama, no clever party-trick function, and Brickset's own reviewer landed on the phrase more stickers than gears, which stings a bit because it's fair. Speaking of stickers, there are three full sheets of them, and the wheel-rim decals in particular are unforgiving. Get one a hair off center and the pattern looks like it's wobbling every time the wheel turns. Add in the price, around $199.99 at retail, plus the awkward fact that LEGO had to swap out some real sponsor stickers over licensing (Pirelli went to a neutral pattern), and the livery ends up not quite matching any real car on the grid. Purists notice.

Who it's for

So who actually walks away happy here? F1 fans, McLaren diehards, and people who value a big handsome display model more than a mechanical puzzle. If that's you, this is an easy one to love, and it earns its shelf space. If you build Technic specifically for the engineering, for gearboxes and linkages and that satisfying click of a function doing real work, this one might leave you a touch cold, and you'd feel the price more sharply. It's now retired, so if it's been on your list, prices aren't going to get friendlier. My honest take: a beautiful car and a pleasant seven to nine hour build, just not the Technic showpiece the box size makes you expect.

The parts story

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

The build runs across 11 numbered bags and a chunky 320-page instruction book, and it takes most people somewhere in the seven to nine hour range. You start with the chassis and drivetrain, so the differential, the pushrod suspension and that V6 engine come together early, and that's the most Technic-feeling stretch of the whole thing. After that it shifts gears into bodywork, and the back half of the build is really an exercise in shaping panels around the frame to nail that F1 silhouette. Some of those bodywork steps get intricate and reward careful reading, but nothing is genuinely hard. It's a calm, satisfying build rather than a brain-bender.

For parts people, the headline is four brand new molds. Two are left and right tapered curved panels (officially Panel Curved and Bent #70 and #71, 6 x 3 x 5) that do the heavy lifting on the smooth bodywork, and a fourth new part is a structural piece that adds real rigidity. It's also the first set to include four of the large Tumbler tyres, so those alone are a draw for car builders. The recolor to hunt for is the 120-degree triple hub in black, which is a properly useful connector that Technic and System builders alike were happy to see. Value-wise you're at roughly 14 cents a piece, which isn't a steal, but between the new tyres, the fresh panels and that pile of orange bodywork elements, the parts pile has more going for it than the number alone suggests.

Fun facts

01LEGO and McLaren Racing developed this set at the same time, with both teams' experts collaborating, making it McLaren's first official F1 car in the LEGO Technic line.
02It is the very first LEGO set to include the large Tumbler tyre in a set of four, a wheel car builders had been wanting for their own creations.
03McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo helped promote the set on social media when it launched in 2022.
04LEGO had to revise the sticker sheet before release, swapping the Pirelli P Zero markings for a neutral pattern and dropping some sponsors over licensing, which is why the finished livery doesn't perfectly match the real car.