February 19, 2026
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2025 saw Formula One’s first season-long drivers’ title fight in a few years, but in the end it was the Papaya team on top, who swept both championships with the mighty McLaren MCL39.
It’s no surprise that LEGO’s pick for the 2026 entry of 1:8 large-scale Technic F1 cars is 42228 McLaren MCL39 F1 car, the fastest model of the ground-effect era.
It’s an iconic car that dominated the Constructor’s Championship, with McLaren’s papaya-powered challenger propelling Lando Norris to his first driver’s championship in a thrilling end to the season. As Formula One enters a new era of regulations and designs, let’s take a look back at the pinnacle of technical evolution from these last set of regulations, and see how well they translate to LEGO form.
42228 McLaren MCL39 F1 car will be released on 1 March 2026, and can be pre-ordered now from LEGO.com.
See below for international pricing and product pages.
Special thanks to the LEGO Group for sending this set over for review.
42228 McLaren MCL39 F1 Car Set Details
42228 McLaren F1 Team MCL39 Set Details
Retail Price
US$229.99 / AU$349.99 / €229.99 / £199.99 / CAD$299.99
Unboxing
The box is what we’ve come to expect from sets like this, with the lift-off lid style. The model stands out well against the all-black 18+ backdrop, along with an orange bottom border design to match the papaya livery.
Inside are paper bags numbered from 1 to 10…
…along with an unnumbered plastic bag of large parts and a white box with the car’s tyres inside.
There’s also this paper folder that holds the instructions and sticker sheet to avoid them getting damaged in transit.
The instructions are pretty nice, with the sleek all-white design showing the front view of the model on the cover.
The sticker sheet is massive, but that’s par for the course for Technic F1 cars with striking liveries like these. Most were easy enough to stick, except for some of the really tiny ones.
Build Process
Bag 1 starts with building the rear wheel linkage and suspension setup, which bag 2 expands with the chassis and engine.
Bag 3 shifts construction to the front wheel supports, to which bag 4 adds the cockpit and steering and connects it to the sub-assembly from bag 2.
Bag 5 adds the underfloor and Venturi tunnels, while bag 6 adds the front wing and nose paneling.
Bag 7 adds the halo, airbox, and bodywork surrounding the driver’s seat, while bag 8 adds the rear wing.
Bag 9 adds the sidepods while bag 10 adds the rear engine cover and wheels, completing the model. Overall, it was a fairly standard build process for these Technic F1 cars (we have had four of these now), but still engaging and detailed throughout with unique quirks.
Reference Image
Completed Model
Right off the bat, it’s impressive how the overall livery has translated itself to LEGO form. LEGO has generally gotten pretty good with the shaping of these Technic cars at this large scale, and this set is no exception with lovely swooping lines.
The elephant in the room is obviously the wheel sizes – unlike the much smaller and cheaper Speed Champions sets, LEGO still hasn’t given these large-scale Technic cars accurate wider rear wheels for the fourth year running. While I think the overall look isn’t awful, it is disappointing that such a crucial detail continues to be omitted.
Otherwise, the car’s proportions are generally pretty good – especially from this front view where the curved shaping of the sidepods are captured beautifully.
The front wings of these Technic cars are generally my favourite sections on these models, and this set is no exception. I love the layered effect across the three panels on each side, with the stickered Mastercard logo prominently featured. The specialised wheel strut pieces are used, with an accurate pull-rod system for the front wheels.
The central section of the model has good shaping too, with the all-black halo and blue wing mirrors.
The airbox uses more system pieces so is able to get better shaping than previous cars, and this is embellished with some stickers. The hand-of-god steering knob has been moved backwards to avoid disrupting the shaping as significantly, which is a positive change.
Inside the cockpit there is a grey driver’s seat, lodged behind the all-black halo which has a small Mastercard logo sticker.
The Venturi tunnels at the front of the underfloor are present here, represented with a pair of black Technic blade pieces.
The sidepods use a few different Technic panels to approximate their shape which is a little clunky at spots, but they do look pretty accurate from the front with a shaping that curves inwards.
The side looks a little bit more disjointed, particularly where that orange piece intersects with the rest of the black bodywork.
Most annoyingly, there is a gap on the underside of the sidepod which is quite irritating – surely a few more extra pieces would have fixed this. Thankfully the predominantly black colour scheme does help to hide it and it’s less problematic than the gap on the Ferrari SF-24, but it’s still a strange design decision.
Thankfully, the rest of the sidepod shaping is well-done, particularly from this rear view where the pods meet the engine cover nicely.
The rear of the car looks a little messy, but prominent details like the rear lights and exhaust pipe are present and more detailed than previous variants.
The rear wing definitely looks better from the front, with great smooth shaping and a brick-built DRS activator in the middle.
Moving on to functions, the model has working suspension for all four wheels – pull-rod in the front and push-rod in the back which is delightfully accurate.
There is also hand-of-god steering for the front wheels, controlled by this gear on the back of the airbox and linked to the steering wheel in the cockpit.
Delightfully, LEGO have finally reworked the gearing mechanism so that the steering wheel can be straight when the front wheels are straight. It’s been a recurring complaint on previous models so it’s good to finally see it fixed.
As is standard on these models, the rear engine cover paneling can be removed – only being attached with a couple of axles.
Inside you can see the MCL39’s gearbox, V6 engine, and a representation of the hybrid battery.
The gearbox has three modes which can be toggled using this joint – with low, neutral, and high gear that affects the speed at which the pistons turn when the model is moved forward.
For some reason the designers have opted to connect the rear DRS flap with the gearbox, meaning that the DRS flap will be open or closed depending on what gear you set the model on, and in this case, when the car is in high gear, DRS mode is activated.
The DRS flap looks good when open and it’s a nifty feature, but I think I prefer manually adjusting it to this arbitrarily linked feature that has no corresponding real-world reason.
Finally, turning the model over to the underside allows a better look at some of the functions – including the connection from the wheel axles to the V6 engine and the rear differential nestled between the suspension linkages. You can also get a better look of the Venturi tunnel construction towards the front that is purely cosmetic.
Comparisons
Although they represent different liveries, the design of the MCL38 and MCL39 are similar enough to make a comparison with the Speed Champions variant. Despite their drastically different scales, there’s still a good level of consistency in terms of shaping and colour blocking.
Of course, the real comparison is the MCL39 joining its other Technic compatriots from the ground-effect era of F1. They take up a lot of space as a group, but they do look stunning together – with similar overarching designs but notable variations in shaping that keep the lineup visually interesting.
We’ve definitely come a long way from the launch of the Technic W14 – I never thought we would end up getting a whole lineup with four of these cars.
Which one is your favourite? Mine would have to be the Red Bull or the McLaren, which have definitely benefitted the most from advanced build techniques to achieve more accurate shaping.
Final Thoughts
Overall, 42228 McLaren MCL39 F1 car is a pretty strong entry that completes the lineup of the “big four” F1 teams in the ground effect era.
I don’t have any major complaints aside from the four same-sized tyres and inexplicable sidepod holes, and despite these shortcomings it still looks good on display and has fun functions.
US$230 USD is a bit expensive for ~1600 pieces, but it does use a fair number of large pieces and the final model is pretty sizeable. Thankfully, LEGO have kept the price the same as last year’s 42206 Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 F1 Car and 42207 Ferrari SF-24 F1 Car, so if you factor in inflation, this year’s McLaren is slightly cheaper.
Ultimately I think most fans will have already made up their mind on this set – if you aren’t into F1 you likely have no real interest in it, while if you’ve collected the previous three sets this is pretty much a must-have addition to the lineup.
It has been four years since 42141 McLaren Formula 1 Race Car, and for all the new Papaya fans who have come to support McLaren in recent years since F1 and LEGO F1 have exploded in popularity, this represents a great chance to add 2025’s Championship-winning car to your collection.
Build
Despite the inaccurate thickness of the rear wheels, the model looks excellent overall and is a worthy rendition of the 2025 championship-winning car.
Playability
The functionality is alright – the accurate suspension setups are cool while the DRS-linked gearbox is bizarre – but not anything supremely out-of-the-box.
Real Value
Expensive, but the final model is well-sized and has a good level of detail.
Innovation
This definitely feels like it’s reaping the benefits of the evolution of these Technic 1:8 cars, with some nifty sub-assemblies.
Keepability
The MCL39 won both championships in 2025 despite controversy over McLaren’s team management, and this is a great rendition of that highly collectible model.
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Thanks for reading! 42228 McLaren MCL39 F1 car will be available from LEGO.com or your local LEGO store starting 1st March, 2026.
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