Lando Norris laps Silverstone in full-size, 342,000-piece LEGO McLaren in world-first

LEGO has launched its new LEGO Technic McLaren P1 with a feat that goes far beyond what it has done before: A fully driveable car, made of the famous bricks, with Lando Norris taking it for a lap of Silverstone.

Comprised of more than 342,000 LEGO bricks and powered by an electric battery, Norris took the car for its first successful test after thousands of hours of design and development went into the full-scale model.

Lando Norris drives McLaren P1 at Silverstone… made of LEGO bricks

PlanetF1.com was invited to the launch of the 1:8 scale LEGO Technic McLaren P1 product, in collaboration between The LEGO Group and McLaren Automotive, whereby a ‘never-before-seen stunt’ was promised – an apt description for what later unfolded.

There was shock and awe in the room at the level of complexity that went into the full-scale P1 upon its unveiling, but that was multiplied significantly when it rolled out of the pit garage at Silverstone for the first time, and even further still when a car – made of LEGO bricks, remember – was driven up and down the pit lane for a show run.

In fact, only a few select parts of the full-scale car are not made of LEGO: The aforementioned electric battery (though the rest of the engine is made of LEGO motor packs, to resemble the P1’s real-life V8), the tyres, seatbelt, steering wheel, and brakes alongside LEGO ones.

A full-size LEGO Technic McLaren P1 is set to be taken on a tour of LEGO events around the world, now it’s unveiled.

Oh, and the McLaren badge, of course.

Everything else on this full-scale replica represents a near-identical copy of a McLaren P1, made to exact measurements and comprised of 393 different LEGO Technic elements and constructed in Czechia, coming in at roughly 1220kg overall – 270kg lighter than the real-life P1, with its battery capable of taking the car between speeds of 50-60km/h.

Upon seeing the car, Norris said: “That’s crazy, huh? Oh God, I’m nervous now.”

But his lap was a successful one at Silverstone, marking the first time a LEGO build has been constructed to drive around corners, complete a lap of a racetrack and have a Formula 1 driver behind the wheel while doing so.

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“It actually drives pretty good,” Norris said afterwards, offering his immediate feedback.

“It felt like a car, the steering I thought was pretty good. Copse, I did it flat, the old wing mirrors flapped a little bit – I thought I should stay off the kerbs here! It’s mint.”

It took 23 people from LEGO’s team a total of 8,344 hours in development, working in conjunction with McLaren Automotive to put together – with such design tasks as creating fully functional steering and integrated suspension to put into the car to make it driveable before Norris’ first lap.

The exterior, we were told, was optimised for rigidity while keeping weight to a minimum and, up close, it was difficult not to be impressed by the level of detail and intricacy that went into this ‘big build’, as the LEGO design team referred to it.

The LEGO Technic McLaren P1 is fully driveable, and took more than 8,000 working hours to create. [Photo copyright: Jeff Moore].

Even on the 1:8 scale replica, the detail involved in the design has seen McLaren and LEGO collaborate with the team handing over information to their partners and offering feedback on the accuracy of their designs, with this being a set that gives builders the challenge of constructing a seven-speed LEGO gearbox for the Technic P1 among its ‘build for real’ ideology.

“It’s quite an accomplishment, I’m so proud that me and part of our team can be here – and it feels great. It’s just a beautiful sight,” Lubor Zelinka, The LEGO Group’s Design Manager Specialist told PlanetF1.com at the car’s unveiling, ahead of Norris’ lap.

“We had great collaboration [with McLaren] throughout the whole thing, we had the full 3D digital package for the car, unprecedented access to their engineering team, some time on their computer actually simulating our assumptions and ideas about a drivetrain on the virtual Silverstone track.

“Overall, they were a great partner, down to actually gifting us a set of wheels and tyres and other parts from the real P1 to accomplish this.”

And for Zelinka, having Norris be the one to test the car for the first time was a landmark occasion, to complete the work he and his colleagues put into the full-scale model was the “cherry”.

“For myself as a designer, I like designing stuff with a purpose, but designing stuff with a purpose of a Formula 1 driver driving it at Silverstone, that was like the cherry on top,” he added.

Tobias Sühlmann, McLaren Automotive’s Chief Design Officer, was involved in the creation of the 1:8 scale model and collaborated with LEGO Technic throughout their new model, and added of the full-size project: “This is mind-blowing. This is really epic, I would say. This is always a great moment, especially when you see that the overall shape of it was really kept, and it’s very close optically to the original P1.

“The P1 in itself is one of our highlights in our brand, it’s one of our icons, one of our ultimates and it’s fascinating to see it here, then to have it driven by Lando is a great moment.”

The 1:8 scale LEGO Technic McLaren P1™ set is now available at www.LEGO.com/McLaren and in LEGO Stores.

The LEGO Technic McLaren P1 is available in a 1:8 scale model.

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