Miami F1’s Lego Drivers’ Parade Is Product Placement Done Right

Despite a banger of a Formula 1 Grand Prix in Miami this past Sunday (the first half, at least), the real highlight of the weekend may just have been the race before the race. No, I’m not talking about Saturday’s historic Sprint which saw 18-year-old Kimi Antonelli start on pole—he’s officially the sport’s youngest ever polesitter in any race format—but the Drivers’ Parade that had the entire grid do a lap of Miami International Autodrome in life-size, electric-powered Lego replicas of their race cars.

A mainstay before every Grand Prix, the Drivers’ Parade is usually done on the back of a slow-moving flatbed truck where F1’s 20 main characters gather to both shoot the shit with each other and wave at the crowd. Sunday’s brick-based deviation from this plan was, at the end of the day, a product placement play (Formula 1 Lego Speed Champions sets are available now starting at $26.99), but it’s also arguably the most whimsical we’ve seen F1 in recent memory, maybe even ever.

Outside of the always somewhat manufactured “fun” that characterizes most F1 teams’ social media videos or the odd off-the-cuff moment on Drive to Survive, Formula 1 drivers are largely a serious bunch. Given the speeds, dollars, and stakes involved, they kind of have to be. Sitting in a grandstand at Turn 18, watching them snail their way back to the paddock in giant Lego cars, however, might just be the most I’ve ever seen them all laugh.

A hit with both drivers and fans, the Lego Drivers’ Parade was not an easy stunt to pull off. Built on a metal chassis and rolling on actual Pirelli tires, the 10 cars were made up of 4 million bricks total and took 22,000 hours to design and assemble. Each weighed 3,300 pounds, almost double the weight of the real thing.

Beyond the entertainment value and technical feat, the event also seemed to provide some insight into the drivers’ various personalities and the little unspoken dynamics between them. When the hell else will you see them race against each other in presumably equal machinery at everybody-can-digest-what’s-going-on speeds and no real rules?

While everybody else opted to completely cut through a chicane, for example, four-time World Champion and Very Intense Man Max Verstappen insisted on sticking to the racing line. In a post-“race” interview, Max sounded like he had fun but assured us that “I think it’s more important to actually clean the track at the moment.” Enough of this tomfoolery, it’s time to race for real, and heads will roll if I see a single stray brick on any of my precious apexes.

At the helm of the Lego Alpine, Pierre Gasly took the opportunity to blatantly ram into anyone who happened to sidle up beside him. A dirty strategy that he perhaps wishes was allowed in the real car—’cause he and I both know that thing isn’t winning many races straight up. Also, you can’t tell me Lewis’ uncontrollable giggle at the sight of the Mercedes float getting beached did not come from a deep place:

Not all racing corporate tie-ins are created equal. For every 10 instances of Ricky Bobby singing the praises of Bob Dawson’s Diet Pork Rinds or *checks notes* Sergio Pérez explaining to GQ why he can’t live without Kit Kats for more than a minute straight, there’s one Lego Drivers’ Parade. This is how you do product placement. It’s fun, it works, it actually ties in, and, most importantly, everybody loved it.

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