Here’s a fun stat for you: of the 107 Technic sets released in the last 5 years, 40 have been cars. Several of those have been racing cars, and this year, LEGO Technic 42228 McLaren F1 Team MCL39 becomes the sixth set in that timespan to depict a Formula One car specifically. It joins Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari F1 cars on the shelves, at similar price and piece points of US $229.99 | CAN $299.99 | UK £189.99 and 1,675 parts respectively. You can pre-order it now, or wait until it shows up on sites like eBay or Amazon after March 1. With the glut of automotive options available to Technic fans, how does this latest open-wheel racer stack up?
LEGO Technic 42228 McLaren F1 Team MCL39 | 1,675 Pieces | Available March 1; Pre-orders open now | US $229.99 | CAN $299.99 | UK £189.99
The box and build
Black and orange is the theme for the box just as it is for the car. The reverse features a casual flex that McLaren are the reigning Contructors’ Champions. You won’t find that on any of the other 1:8 F1 car boxes!
The parts are spread across 10 paper bags, with the tyres in their own box and the bigger parts in a plastic bag. The instructions, meanwhile, are in a paper envelope, along with the sticker sheets.
Yes – that’s sticker sheets, plural. The numbers go up to 54, and since some of them are duplicated, the actual number is closer to 60 decals. So we have those to look forward to.
Let’s ignore that problem for now and read up on the McLaren MCL39. I wonder how many times that ‘Formula for Success’ pun has been used when talking about F1 cars. (Far too many times, if you ask me!)
As with many a Technic build, we start with a differential and frame. There are some conspicuous tow-ball joints here…
… And it’s not long before we put them to good use. The diff tells us that we’re at the rear of the car, where McLaren employed push-rod suspension. As the name suggests, this means there’s a link from the wishbone that pushes the shock absorber when the car goes over a bump. The shocks aren’t here yet, but don’t worry, we’ll get to that.
For now, we’re going to extend the car forwards. We start with a simple two-speed gearbox, atop which the Mercedes V6 turbo-hybrid engine is mounted. Or, er, the regulation Technic engine.
Every gearbox needs a gear lever, and that goes on at the end alongside what I presume is an actuator for the engine. You’ll also notice those shocks I mentioned earlier.
Real-life F1 cars don’t have shocks this big, of course – in fact they barely have them at all. But they are packaged in weird and wonderful ways, so I appreciate the ingenuity of connecting these ones underneath the chassis.
And the fact that they’re exposed means we get a great look at how the suspension will work!
With one set of suspension done, we can focus on the front. Here, we have the opposite of the rear: this time, a pull-rod is attached to the upper wishbone. We’ve also got the steering to contend with. With that in mind, it’s quite impressive that the centre portion is mostly packaged into a 3-wide assembly.
We made it through almost four bags before needing to disturb the sticker sheet. Our first ones are on the wheel fairings, which themselves are cleverly connected using a single macaroni tube.
Extending it backwards, we attach the seat and much of the steering mechanism. A set of gears transfers the action from the top of the chassis to the bottom, then back out just above the engine.
The knob to turn it pokes out just above the engine, where those white beams are. There are loads of pins to line up as the front and rear of the chassis go together, but after a bit of wiggling it does go together. And mighty solid it is, too.
Oh hey, there’s that yoke I said should’ve been used in Micheal Schumacher’s Ferrari F2004. I have test-fitted it, and I stand by what I said in that review. In fact, this piece is probably a bit small relative to the rest of the McLaren here, so maybe I’ll replace it permanently!
That’s the core of the McLaren pretty much done, so we can start focussing on the outer surfaces now. That means two things: one, we’re going to see a lot more Technic panels, as used in the intricate angled assembly at the floor’s leading edge. Two, things are going to get a lot more orange. (I like the use of a minifigure hose for the antenna on the nose!)
Oh, and the rate of sticker usage is going to increase dramatically. The front wing is a dizzying array of curved wedge panels, every single one of which has a sticker on it.
When we come to attach it, we complete a nice, smooth curve with the nose panel.
Then it’s time to cover up the sides. I’m sure some people see the use of System parts in a Technic set as tantamount to cheating, but the combination of curved slopes and Technic panels does do a good job of closing the gaps.
The next sub-assembly – the engine cover – is another one with virtually every surface covered in stickers. At this point, they start to get a bit ridiculous. The Chrome stickers aren’t particularly nice to apply to a concave surface, and we have several stickers that are barely a stud wide, including a tiny Mastercard logo.
What I do like is the shaping of the halo head protection device. Using two flex tubes with different curvatures does a great job of communicating the slightly flat profile.
I’m not so sure about the airbox inlet though. Not because it’s made of System parts – they actually make for a good impression of the real thing – but because it’s very fragile. Much of it relies on one- or two-stud connections, and I knocked parts of it loose more than a few times while man-handling the car.
Still, at least the rear wing will be more fun to make, right? Well, to be fair, it is – as long as you don’t mind stickers. I’m sorry to keep harping on about it – I know that such things are necessary in large models of race cars. But here we have one sticker that is literally just a black bar, and a 1×2 Technic beam with a sticker on both sides! Granted, the kiwi logo is a nice nod to founder Bruce McLaren’s mother country of New Zealand, but is this really a necessary detail for a LEGO set? I’m not so sure. I’d be intrigued to know what you think, readers – let me know in the comments.
After some more building and stickering, the rear wing is ready to go onto the car. Most of the connection is pretty straightforward, but there is an interesting one to the rear-most aerodynamic element. This will presumably engage the Drag Reduction System (DRS) when one of the faster gears is engaged. If so, that’s a nice touch!
Sidepods up next, and to accomplish the complex curves and angles of modern F1 cars, we use a tow-ball joint to taper the bulk of the side structure. Each subsequent sub-assembly covers up the gaps with more aero devices. By now, this area is so busy you need to pay close attention to where exactly you’re connecting this stuff.
We’re on the home straight now – all we have left is the engine cover, which uses more system parts for curves…
… And the wheels and tyres, which – finally! – make use of printing, to great effect.
The finished model
Yep, that’s an F1 car alright! Now that my fingers are a little less sore (big Technic sets are a test of endurance in more ways than one), I can stand back and say the papaya Macca looks very nice.
The rear angle looks pretty good too. My main criticism is that, yet again, the front and rear tyres are the same size. Given this is the fourth car made at this scale, surely the cost of a new mould would have been justified?
The car does sit a bit higher than you might expect a Formula One car to. It’s not unique to this set – many Technic sets trade correct ride height for movable suspension. If your F1 car moves as much as this in real life, you’ve got a big problem. I also inadvertently highlighted just how rickety the top of the airbox is – I wouldn’t recommend pushing down on it like I did here!
The steering is, thankfully, a bit more solid. With the steering wheel moving, it’s also more realistic than the suspension.
Sticking at the back of the car, let’s see how the DRS works. It may look like I’m making a bit of a meal of it here. In my defense, you do need a fair bit of pressure to move the lever. It’s also really tricky to get to with the bodywork on. Presumably the fin at the back is attached a bit loosely to give access to it, but it’s a real pain in the rear diffuser to get to.
So let’s take the engine cover off, and get a good look at our engine! Or, er, just a look. You can’t see much of it at all.
Still, at least the actuating mechanism is much easier to get to now. It’s still a bit janky though.
Of course, the purpose of this lever is not just to open the rear wing. You can choose between two speeds: slow and fast. Or fast and faster, depending on your outlook on life.
It’s a shame the engine is buried so deep within the body. You can only really see it from above, so I’m not sure how easy it is when you’re pushing the car around the carpet. (Yes, I know it’s ostensibly an 18+ display model, but come on, who isn’t giving their toy cars at least a couple of laps of their living room?)
Conclusion and recommendation
I don’t own any of the other large-scale Technic F1 cars, so I’m relying on other reviews for the inevitable comparisons. To LEGO’s credit, they all appear to have been designed from the ground up rather than being simple re-colours. That’s evidenced by the DRS, which is a novelty on the McLaren. Nonetheless, there still similarities; the suspension, engine and front wing don’t vary much between the cars. They also share inaccurately sized tyres. I forgave this on Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari F2004, where the difference between front and rear would have been less than 2mm in diameter. At this larger scale, and with the larger size difference on 2025 F1 tyres, I’m not going to be as forgiving. The rears should be about half an inch bigger. Surely the investment in a new mould was worthwhile for $200+ flagship sets like this one.
My overarching feeling of the MCL39 in isolation is not dissimilar to what others have said about the Ferrari and Red Bull: accurately shaped models, tyres notwithstanding; nice (if predictable) functionality; perhaps a tad expensive, but a good option for the Technic-minded F1 fan. DRS aside, there is very little to set it aside from the other 1:8 Technic F1 cars though, so whether you go for 42228 here specifically may well depend on how much you like the colour orange.
One more thing before we close out. Given that last season, McLaren completed their first Cosntructors’ and Drivers’ title double since 1998, a flagship MCL39 set was perhaps inevitable. I can’t begrudge them or LEGO that. However, I am now starting to feel a bit burned out on LEGO Formula One, particularly 2025-spec cars. The sets we’ve had have, on the whole, been done to a pretty good standard. But if this partnership is to continue, we need to see more of the weird and wonderful that F1 has to offer. I’m privileged to be able to have done so, but there’s only so many times I can build front and rear wings, V6 engines or double-wishbone suspension before I get bored. I’m beginning to reach that point – and I’m a pretty big F1 fan. I need some variety next.
LEGO Technic 42228 McLaren F1 Team MCL39 | 1,675 Pieces | Available March 1; Pre-orders open now | US $229.99 | CAN $299.99 | UK £189.99
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