In my ongoing quest to collect all the Speed Champions, this set was quite anticipated (as a huge McLaren fan!)

Box/Instructions

Great box with brilliant product photos and information about the real car upon which it is based. The instructions are nice enough, a slightly better quality of presentation over standard City types sets.

Parts

Generally standard parts although the lattice towers are useful in custom sets and some of the vehicle specific parts, such as chassis are good for custom work.

Minifigures

3 minifigures all feature nice body prints. Only 1 driver though, so if you swap out the front wing and therefore change the car number, you still only have one driver to cover both roles (Kevin and Jenson). This was something that impressed me with the 75913 Ferrari F1 set, as both drivers were included. That said, it's easy enough to swap out the helmet from one in my own collection to represent the other driver.

The build

The F1 car is a very satisfactory build, using offset bricks and snot (studs not on top) techniques. The pit stop area is easy enough to build although feels unsubstantial which is very apparent during the build.

The completed model

The car is fantastic, with a great look given the medium in which it is built and it's scale. The pit area just feels a bit wobbly and the features are pretty weak. The airguns for changing the wheels barely reach the front wheels, the hose on the starter motor box desperately wants to break free all the time as it is at the limit of it's bend radius, and my minifig scale tool collection is bursting at the seams!

The action feature that launches the car is nice enough, but you have to hit it with some real force to get any speed and distance from the car - but hit it too hard and the whole pits move around, launching the car in any direction but the one you wanted it to go in. I have had to retrieve the car from under my sofa far too many times to care to recall...

Overall opinion

It's a licensed product which means it's more expensive (price per part wise) than a standard City set, for example. I would normally accept that providing the set reflected that in it's quality and play value. Unfortunately, aside from a fantastic F1 car, the rest of the set feels a bit lame and flimsy.