Comparing LEGO Technic 42141 McLaren Formula 1 Race Car with the real deal

The 2022 car for the McLaren Racing team has been revealed, allowing us to compare it to the LEGO 42141 McLaren Formula 1 Race Car. 

The upcoming LEGO Technic set was designed in tandem with the latest McLaren Formula 1 car named MCL36, and you might think that the two are nearly identical because of this close partnership. 

However, official images for both vehicles reveal a few key differences, most notably in the livery. The mostly blue and orange colour scheme features a more uniform design on 42141 McLaren Formula 1 Race Car that doesn’t quite translate over to the real car. 

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The 2022 race car’s livery has the blue striped curving onto the body of the vehicle as well as a pair of orange fins on the front. Select brands and sponsors are also different and other variants of the 2022 car are no closer to being a match for the set. 

As for the overall design of the two cars, there are plenty of similarities when viewed from all angles with everything from the halo to the spoiler recreated as identically as the Technic system allows. The tyres differ between them, but this is likely because the real 2022 car is not using wet tyres in the official images. 

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When looking at the MCL35, the livery is a much closer match to 42141 McLaren Formula 1 Race Car, suggesting that the previous model was a source of inspiration for the set while the newer variant was under development, at least for the colour scheme and livery.

The newest LEGO Technic set will launch on March 1 worldwide and the first race of the Formula 1 2022 season that McLaren Racing will take part in follows shortly after on March 20. 

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