Technic

Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance

A gorgeous 1:8 F1 shell that photographs like the real thing, with caveats.

Brick Rated Score

3.7/5

Set 42171 · 2024

Pieces1,642

Minifigsn/a

Year2024

Set number42171

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The verdict

The silhouette is what got me.

From across the room this reads as an actual Mercedes W14, and that panel work is genuinely lovely. I'll be straight with you though, the mechanical side is quiet for a big Technic set, and 74 stickers on a $220 model is a lot to ask. If you love F1 and you're building for the shape, you'll be thrilled. If you build Technic for gearboxes and clever functions, temper your expectations.

Best for: F1 fans who want a display-piece replica more than a mechanical playground

The full review

What it is

Let me start with the good part, because it's the part that sells the whole thing. This LEGO® set builds into a 1:8 replica of the Mercedes-AMG F1 W14, the car Lewis Hamilton and George Russell raced in 2023, and it genuinely looks the part. The curves along the nose and sidepods are the hard bit of any F1 model, and the designers nailed the shape here. Stand it a few feet back and your brain just reads Formula 1 car, not a pile of Technic panels. At 1,642 pieces it's a proper afternoon-and-then-some project, and the finished thing has real presence on a shelf.

The catch

Now the honest bits, and there are a few. For a big Technic set, the working functions are surprisingly quiet. You get steering (from the wheel or a knob up top), independent suspension, a six-cylinder engine with pistons that move as the wheels roll, and a rear wing that pops open like the real car's DRS. That's a nice list, but there's no gearbox, no big mechanical party trick, and after the McLaren and other 1:8 cars, some builders wanted more. Then there are the stickers. Seventy-four of them, and a chunk go onto curved surfaces where lining them up cleanly is genuinely fiddly. The livery would have sung as printed panels, and at $219.99 that omission stings a little. The build itself front-loads the tricky, repetitive suspension work, so the first half is more grind than joy before the shape starts appearing.

Who it's for

So who ends up loving this one? If you're an F1 fan, or a display builder who cares more about the silhouette than the mechanics, this is an easy yes. It photographs wonderfully, it looks expensive, and parked next to the Technic McLaren at the same 1:8 scale it makes a lovely pair. If you build Technic for the engineering, for the gearboxes and the clever linkages that make you say wow, this will feel a touch hollow and you might be happier elsewhere. One more note worth knowing: it's retiring at the end of 2026, and the price has softened well below RRP on the secondary market, so a patient shopper can do nicely. My honest take is that this is a very good display model with a couple of real asterisks, not a flawless one. Go in wanting the car, not the mechanism, and you'll be glad you did.

The parts story

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

The build opens with the suspension, and it does not ease you in. This is the most involved, most concentration-heavy stretch of the whole thing, and it's the part reviewers flag as the slog, so pour a coffee and settle in. Once the chassis and that moving six-cylinder engine are in, the pace lifts a lot, because the back half is all about hanging bodywork. Panel after curved panel clips over the frame, and watching the flat, awkward skeleton turn into a recognizable F1 shape is the payoff that makes the early grind worth it. Total time runs roughly 8 to 12 hours depending on your pace, so it's a weekend, not an evening.

On the pieces, this is a panel-and-connector set more than a rare-parts treasure hunt. The value story is in those large curved body panels in Mercedes petronas colors doing the heavy lifting on the look, plus the smaller aero fins and the low, flat floor that mirror how a real F1 car chases downforce. The moving-piston engine block is the mechanical highlight in the box. The catch every builder mentions is the 74 stickers, which carry a lot of the livery detail that printed elements would have nailed permanently. If you're a parts hoarder chasing new molds, this isn't that set. If you want a bin of usable panels and a display model at the end, the count earns its keep, especially now that it sells under its original price.

Fun facts

01The real W14 was Mercedes' 2023 car, the season the team went winless for the first time since 2011 after gambling on a slim zero-sidepod concept they abandoned mid-year.
02It's built to 1:8 scale, the same as the Technic McLaren Formula 1 car, so the two rival replicas line up nose to nose on a shelf.
03The rear wing opens like the real car's DRS, the drag reduction flap drivers pop on straights to overtake.
04The set packs 74 stickers, a running complaint from reviewers who wanted the crisp livery as printed panels on a model this expensive.