Set Review ➟ LEGO® Speed Champions 77257 McLaren W1
Release Date: 1 January 2026
Price: £22.99 / $27.99 / €27.99 / NZ$44.99
The McLaren W1 is the successor to the P1 in McLaren’s lineup of hypercars, and now receives representation in Lego as a 2026 Speed Champions set. The orange and black livery really pops on the box art, but how well will the W1’s subtle curves be captured in brick form? There are no fancy new wheels this time, but the functional rear spoiler shown on the back of the box sure has me intrigued.
The box contains five bags, building instructions, chassis element, bagged rim inserts, and a tiny sticker sheet. The minifigure here is a bit underwhelming—a woman in light blue jeans and a black McLaren hoodie. As with the Ferrari and Bugatti, I can’t help but feel these have been designed almost as an afterthought, and that proper racing gear would be more appropriate.
The initial comparison shot in the instructions of the LEGO model vs real car had me lowering my expectations. Contrasting with those in the Bugatti and Ferrari sets, the images here are not exactly flattering. Building the car though was much more satisfying. Diamond elements are used for the diffuser, similar to the Ferrari. The front splitter section is intricate and looks great when complete. The wing mirrors and tail-lights (small plume feathers!) are a real stroke of genius. A further surprise was the brick-built engine, made from 1x2 hinge bricks. This is covered up with a printed 1x2x2 panel later on, but it’s cool to know it’s there. The engine cover itself would benefit from adding a 1x2 plate and tile behind the engine to lock the cover in place.
The movable rear spoiler is a clever feature, sitting above a printed half-round 1x2 exhaust tile. The spoiler angles up and down, and has about a stud of rearwards travel. Its movement is restricted to realistic positions, sitting slightly angled up when fully retracted. At the front, an angled section aligns with the printed headlight slopes to shape the hood vent. The sides sadly look rather unfinished, with many exposed studs which should have been tiled over. The distinctive side air scoops, shaped like the McLaren logo emblem, also aren’t nearly as prominent as they should be. The back end looks better, with just a touch of orange framing between the tail-lights and diffuser.
The interior features a nougat-coloured center console, centered headrests, a printed 1x1 on the dashboard, and a large-style steering wheel. In addition to the 2x2 wedge tiles in orange, an entirely new element is introduced with a pair of black 1x1 convex corner cheese slopes (complementing the concave version found in red on the Ferrari). Some other useful recoloured parts are the “half-cloud” 2x2 tiles (#5518) in black, and the newish 3x1x2/3 curved slope (#7302) in orange.
The four stickers are minimal, providing vent detail on the hood and front fenders. All of these can be left off with no real loss. Printed elements include the nose logo, headlights, windscreen, dashboard tile (plus a spare), engine cover, and the exhaust. One very odd print choice concerns the 2x2 curved slopes forming the orange/black boundary line along the sides. While I will always prefer a print over a sticker, the much better solution here seems obvious—just use bricks. These parts seem to have been printed so as to subtly curve upwards into the side intakes, but the printing leaves a very noticeable orange outline around the boundary of the black printing.
The side profile is really where the set fails to adequately capture the curves of the real W1, which has a low front end and large side intakes leading to raised rear fenders. While the model does have a plate’s worth of forward rake it still looks very flat by comparison. The orange/black transition at the front really needs to be a plate lower, but that will take substantial modification. In the meantime I’ve found the proportions can be somewhat improved by raising the tops of the side intakes and rear wheel arches by one plate. I’ll let you be the judge.
Unmodified set
Light modification (some extra parts used)
So how does the McLaren W1 set stack up against the new Bugatti and Ferrari? Honestly, it has to be the weaker of the three new Speed Champions hypercars, at least in terms of how well it represents its real hypercar counterpart, but it is still a very good set. What it may lack in accuracy and shaping, it largely makes up for with a functional spoiler, inventive wing mirrors and tail-lights, and that brick-built engine. If you plan on getting the other two sets, then I think you’re going to want this one as well.
# We wish to thank LEGO for providing this set for review. The opinions in this review are not supported or endorsed by LEGO.
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