How F1 and LEGO came together for an iconic British GP podium moment

It was always going to be difficult for LEGO to top its Miami Grand Prix pre-race parade, where it built drivable replicas of all 10 Formula 1 cars and put them in the hands of the best drivers in the world.

It was a spectacle the likes of which F1 had never seen before, which is saying something, as the competitive instincts of the best racers in the world kicked in and a slow-motion race ensued, with LEGO debris littering the Miami Autodromo as a result.

However, while all eyes were on the amazing feat of engineering, another LEGO plan had been hatched and was assigned to designer Samuel Liltorp Johnson – create the podium trophies for the British Grand Prix, a race where the 75th anniversary of the first F1 grand prix will be toasted.

Rather than starting with a blank sheet of paper, Liltorp Johnson instead spoke to F1 and to Silverstone and decided to replicate the traditional British Grand Prix trophies, including the iconic RAC cup presented to the race winner.

The winners’ trophy, is comprised of 2,717 LEGO bricks, weighs over 2kg and all four trophies – with the 2nd place, 3rd place and winning constructor also built of LEGO, took a team of seven builders over 210 hours to create.

“It’s probably the closest that F1 has to something like the FIFA World Cup [trophy]. So to get to do that is pretty cool,” Litorp Johnson told Autosport.

“If I could tell my granddad that I had been selected to do this job he’d probably think it was probably a bit ridiculous. Just because we watched it on TV and it would be super cool just to show him.

“I remember when I said to him that I really liked LEGO and I wanted to be the guy who made LEGO toys. Imagine if I did that for the winner of the Formula 1 Grand Prix. That would be super cool to have that conversation with him.

“I think these moments are special and they will inspire the next generation, which in my heart is my purpose as a LEGO designer is to inspire the next generation to do the things that they love as a passion.”

For F1, the trophies signal a continuation of its collaboration with LEGO, allowing the series to embrace creativity in the way it can work with its partners to create memorable moments for fans.

While appealing to a new generation of fandom is important, for F1 chief commercial officer Emily Prazer, keeping to the traditional design of the RAC Trophy was also key.

“Everything that LEGO has done has been super authentic to our sport, so it’s not necessarily like a sponsor is just inserting themselves, even if you look at the LEGO brick boards that we launched last week in Austria and how they are placed, it’s taking traditional assets and actually getting super creative with them,” she told Autosport.

Lego Race Winners Trophy

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / LAT Images via Getty Images

“LEGO has pushed our boundaries around creativity that we can’t do with many other partners because it’s the physical nature of the product, which has been super exciting. But from our perspective, it’s helping us to reach the demographic that we’ve all been desperately trying to convert.

“We acquired this audience through Drive to Survive that at the time we didn’t really know how to talk to them or what they were looking for, and by partnering with the likes of LEGO and others, it’s given us a lens of, how do you create content that’s a lot more translatable to that audience? How do we teach the next generation of fan around some of the strategy?

“The physical nature of LEGO is super important to how we can continue to make sure that fans can feel it, they understand it. At the same time, we’re definitely not trying to alienate the traditional fans. The RAC trophy is heritage, it’s part of the race, it’s everything.”

Instead of potentially turning off its legacy fans, Prazer feels the work with LEGO actually presents more of an opportunity to dovetail long-term supporters with those who are newer to the championship.

“This has only been done as part of a very special 75th anniversary celebration, but you look at the level of detail that’s gone into these trophies, they’re incredible. And I think it’s a testament to LEGO, because the RAC Silverstone, the BRDC, are loving them,” she added.

“So if you want to talk about tradition coming together with the new generation of Formula 1, you couldn’t have anything more kind of polar opposite, but so complementary of one another in this activation.

“I don’t think in our wildest dreams we could have understood how positively impactful the drivers’ parade would be [in Miami]. And of course, that gives you confidence, but I come back to the fact that we’re not just going to create activations for the sake of it.

Lego Williams car at the drivers parade

Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images

“There has to be meaning behind it. They have to look and feel authentic. It has to resonate with the audience and the sport.”

Julia Goldin, chief product and marketing officer at LEGO Group, tells Autosport there will be further such activations in the future but that they will only be used sparingly and when they feel like a natural fit – even asking for further ideas for the future.

“We’ve had a really great partner that allowed us to open up the opportunity and say ‘okay, let’s let our collective imagination go. What can we do together? What can we tap into?’,” she said.

“I think that’s been so far the result of that and we are very selective, because we’re not jumping after everything, but we’re just going after things where we believe we can really bring tremendous value to the fans.

“What we are wanting to do with this partnership, in particular, is to bring that creativity and enormous possibilities of the brick and shine a new light on that and do it in a way that actually brings a tonne of value to the fans and to the partnership.

“We’re really very, very happy to have this opportunity. To put the stamp of the LEGO brick and LEGO creativity on this kind of celebration, and to support F1 and to support Silverstone. I think it’s just a tremendous opportunity, and I think you can see from the efforts that went into building these trophies that it’s been taken very seriously.”

Lego Race Winners Trophy

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images via Getty Images