LEGO Icons 10353 Williams FW14B & Nigel Mansell: “And colossally, that’s LEGO Mansell!” [Review & Exclusive Designer Insights]

donderdag, 27 februari 2025

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Modern Formula One cars are fantastically complex beasts. And yet, if you ask hardcore F1 fans what the most technologically advanced car ever is, there’s a good chance they will plump for one from 1992. The Williams FW14B is famous for enjoying its technological superiority over its rivals, with traction control and active suspension among its many innovations. This icon of 1990s F1 is now getting an official LEGO set, alongside its most famous pilot, in the form of 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell. With an RRP of US $79.99 | CAN $99.99 | UK £69.99, this 799-piece kit can be pre-ordered now ahead of its general release on March 1st. (You might also see it on eBay or Amazon thereafter.)

Our editor-in-chief Andrew Becraft visited Billund last year to talk to LEGO Icons designer (and LEGO Masters Australia victor) Gus McLaren about this set ahead of its release. So you can expect to see some interesting bits of information sprinkled throughout this review. (A shout-out too to Nicole, AKA GirlBricksALot, for joining Andrew in the interview and backing him up with some specialist F1 knowledge!)

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

The box and contents

The Williams is presented on a black background on the front, with some detail shots and the car on its stand on the reverse.

Two thumb-punch tabs later, and we have 8 paper bags to open up.

There’s also the instructions, natch, plus four loose tyres and a sticker sheet full of wonderfully 90s-looking logos.

There are three pages of background before we get building, first covering the FW14B, then Nigel Mansell, and finally the set in which they both now appear.

The build

The first bag includes our Mansell minifigure, who we’ll take a closer look at later on, and the parts for his stand. Sticker aside, it’s an exact copy of the one from last year’s 10330 McLaren MP4/4.

We go straight into building up the chassis from there, which – after the floor – includes the rear suspension. We’ve only got the lower wishbones at this stage, connected to a strong Technic frame.

Within said frame is where our powerplant will sit: a Renault Sport RS3C or RS4 engine, depending at which point in 1992 this car depicts. Either way, they’re both naturally-aspirated V10s.

There are so many fun details that go on thereafter. Designer Gus confirmed that the whip parts were specially made in blue for this set, and represent some of the many hydraulic lines that run through the car.

In the second bag, a succession of both stud and Technic connections allow us to complete the rear suspension. I believe the black and gold 1×1 arch pieces represent the shock absorbers, which sit longitudinally along the car’s axis. More impressive detailing!

There’s more of the same as we move further forward, too. For instance, there’s a star-studded Williams Engineering sticker hidden inside the cockpit. This is something that’s apparently specific to Nigel Mansell’s car. The design team were able to visit Williams’ HQ in Oxfordshire, England to see the car for real – a visit, we’re told, that was vital to capturing some of the smaller details like this. (Having been there myself, I can confirm that it’s also a great day out!)

My favourite detail, perhaps in the entire car, is the safety harness, made up of stickers applied to red 1×2 cuved slopes. Combined with the black ‘cheese’ slopes and a 1×1 round tile representing the buckle, it’s a superb depiction of the car’s seat and five-point harness. And there’s something about that looks so 90s – perhaps it’s that colour combination.

You’ll notice that we’ve added some colourful sideways bricks, too. This is the start of the sidepods, which we continue and finish up next. There’s a radiator accurately place within on either side, and the taper at the back is achieved with a simple but effective clip-and-bar connection.

This car’s LEGO predecessor, the McLaren MP4/4, included plenty of printed parts, but on the Williams we’ve regressed almost entirely to stickers. The only printed parts we get in the entire set are these 1×1 tiles, used to ensure the blue-and-white diagonal colour blocking stays continuous around the cockpit.

We can set the main model aside for a moment now, though. Our next task is to build up the front suspension. It’s similar in principle to the rear, but this time we have a steering mechanism to hide between the wishbones.

It’s a simple affair – tie-rods connected to ball joints, and moved side-to-side by the long Technic axle. It’s similar to the MP4/4, but it’s an elegant solution, so why change it?

Once we link it to the chassis, we can fit the steering wheel which turns with the front wheels.

The rest of the bag – number four, for those counting along at home – builds up some of the bodywork around the front of the chassis. I would’ve thought LEGO’s regular yellow was a better match for the yellow on the FW14B livery, but having it this way does mean we get a handful of new parts in bright light orange.

Enough of the front, let’s whip back around to the rear! It’s brackets galore as we prepare to fit the rear wing.

There are a few more stickers applied, with the Canon one split across two elements just as on the real thing. The top-most element is sandwiched in only by the two endplates; a clip linked to the floor by way of a bracket provides some stability.

The ‘B’ element of the FW14B denomination indicates that this was an evolution of Williams’ 1991 car, the FW14. Many of the updates were internal, including the gearbox and addition of traction control. The easiest way to tell the difference between the two specifications is to look at the front suspension. The FW14B’s most famous party trick – active suspension – necessitated the addition of two bulges in the nosecone. These are present on the LEGO model, too.

By his own admission, Gus did say he wasn’t exactly an F1 nerd before starting this project (despite hisMcLaren surname). But he did train as a mechatronics engineer, so earned a great appreciation for the FW14B’s active suspension system! In simple terms, active suspension hydraulically links all four wheels of the car, allowing for a great deal of control over the car’s attitude in corners.

It was a perfect match for Nigel Mansell’s aggressive driving style, and gave Williams such a huge advantage in 1992 that it was banned from the next season onwards. To this day, it’s outlawed even in modern F1 cars. The FW14B’s front wing looks rather different to modern ones, too, with tails sticking out on either side to control the aerodynamic flow around the front wheels.

Now that we have the wing in place, we can build up the nose. We’re using up stickers at quite the rate now! Like Luke Skywalker, Nigel Mansell was known as ‘Red 5’ to fans. Not because he flew an X-wing at the Battle of Yavin, but because his racing number was 5, and, well, it was red!

A hinge allows this 2×6 tile to be angled downwards. It does leave a few unsightly gaps, though. Many of these parts on the McLaren were printed, notably the tile on the nose, so all these stickers do feel like a downgrade on the face of it. On the other hand, perhaps it was felt that the yellow and white detailing would get washed out on the blue (as it did on the McLaren’s red parts), so it could be a blessing in disguise.

Once again, we’re now going to set aside our main model and concentrate on our last sub-build: the engine cover. And we start of with some really interesting building! After a base of wedge plates, a whole host of brackets, SNOT bricks and jumper plates are used to create the core of the airbox.

To those are attached panelling for the airbox, with blue parts on the lower edge…

… And more bright light orange on the sides.

This is the last step of building proper for the car; the very last step is to fit the wheels. Much like the latest Speed Champions F1 sets, this classic F1 car benefits from a new dual-mould to accurately reflect the wider rear tyres. As a bonus, they’re printed with Goodyear branding. The lack of properly-sized tyres was one of the main criticisms of the McLaren, and apparently no less than Williams themselves were also keen to see this rectified!

We’ll take a look at the car complete with engine cover and tyres in a moment. For now, we have one last thing to build: its stand. Much like Mansell’s podium, it’s precisely the same construction as the McLaren’s stand. Gus told us that this was an intentional decision, to emphasise that these cars are both part of the same collection. So that means they should look good together on display, right…?

The minifigure

Well, you’ll have to wait a bit to find out! For now, we’re going to take a look at the FW14B’s most famous driver (sorry, Riccardo Patrese). As well as Red 5, Mansell was also known as ‘il leone‘ (the lion) to the Italian Tifosi fans, and ‘Our Nige’ to those of his native Great Britain. Whatever you call him, his minifigure rendition looks great!

He has a dual-sided head, with a happy and determined expression. His signature moustache does make it hard to tell the difference between them though!

He also has a replacement hair piece to sport when he’s not helmeted – and interestingly, it’s the same as the Ayrton Senna minifigure’s. I think it’s a better match for Nigel’s hair, personally.

Although the two figures depict figures 4 years apart, the nature of F1 in the 90s means that they could quite easily be placed in either 1988 or 1992.

The finished model

Now then, let’s inspect the completed FW14B – built at a scale of 1:13. It’s a looker!

From a distance, it’s very definitely a late 80s/early 90s Williams. The livery didn’t change much throughout those years, owing to the sponsorships of camera maker Canon and tobacco company Camel. The latter is where the car gets its yellow flourishes, with their logos being understandably absent.

The best detail is undoubtedly under the engine cover. The Renault V10 looks absolutely fantastic, and based on reference photos I could find, seems to be pretty accurate. It’s impressive how many little details have been captured. Even the differently-coloured wheel nuts – referenced by Technic half-bushes, and intended to make life easier for the Williams pit crew – are present and correct.

There are a few discrepancies which I find a little odd, and we’ll go back to the comparison shot at the start of the instruction booklet to illustrate this. We can see that the Canon logo on the sidepod is too small – OK, this can kind of be excused by the fact they chose to use a 2×4 tile – and the logos on the yellow portion of the engine cover are mixed up. The Williams one is in the wrong place, and the Elf logo near the front is missing altogether. At least the shaping at the back captures the car’s silhouette pretty well.

A valiant attempt has been made to capture the smooth, Adrian Newey-designed curves of the front third; but all those sharp angles aren’t really doing it for me. The nose is full of holes, too. Now to be fair, the fact it’s all blue doesn’t help; after all, the McLaren used a similar method, and the gaps are less obvious thanks to the colour blocking. But of the two, I think the Macca does a better job of aping the real car’s livery, faded print notwithstanding.

What is a massive plus for the Williams, though, is the correctly-sized rear tyres. They play such an underrated role in the proportions of F1 cars, particularly these older ones. When placed wheel-to-wheel, the McLaren frankly looks like a jumped-up go-kart. The good news is that it also ran Goodyears, so if you can track down another set of these printed wheels (as I intend to do), it will improve the look no end.

It’s interesting picking out how different they are; despite only being four years apart, the different regulations make the 1988 and 1992 spec cars very different. Turbochargers – such as the McLaren had – were outlawed, for instance, and the different aerodynamic philosophies are evidenced by the variations in body shape.

Despite the fact they never raced one another, the pair look great together. The consistent scale and design of the stands is much appreciated. And from a colour theory point of view it’s great, too – that’s all the primary colours covered between them!

Conclusion and recommendation

I think the Williams FW14B was an excellent choice of subject matter for the second set in this series: there aren’t many cars whose chassis denomination is well-known to those not closely connected to the sport, but this one definitely is. And this set does a more than passable job. The detailed engine bay is a highlight, the car is recognisable from a distance, and the Mansell minifigure is magnificent. For 80 dollars, it feels like pretty fair value.

But it’s difficult to review a set like this without comparing it to what came before. In many ways it’s the tricky sophomore album of LEGO sets. And the Williams doesn’t do all that much different to its predecessor. The nose area is still a little… agricultural, let’s say. In fact the bigger tyres are pretty much the only major improvement, albeit a significant enough one to lead me to recommend the FW14B over the McLaren if you don’t own either one (they’re both the same price, after all). If you own the McLaren already, you may only want the Williams if you’re a completionist – and if you can, I’d recommend picking up a set of Goodyear tyres too!

LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell contains 799 pieces and one minifigure, and can be pre-ordered now for US $79.99 | CAN $99.99 | UK £69.99. Shipping starts from March 1st, after which point you may also be able to find it on third-party retail sites like eBay or Amazon.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

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