LEGO Speed Champions will welcome another Formula 1 car next year, but its fictional roots mean it can do even more than its predecessors.
LEGO Speed Champions 77252 APXGP Team Race Car was officially revealed over the weekend, bringing the tried and tested formula of Speed Champions F1 cars to a fictional world. Rather than being based on a real-life Formula 1 team, it's based on APXGP from the F1 movie that was released earlier this year.
On the face of it, 77252 APXGP Team Race Car is much like the rest of the brick-built grid – but when you dig into the finer details, the LEGO Speed Champions 2026 set manages to tick some boxes that the earlier models didn't.
To start with, there's not one but two minifigures in the set, with both Brad Pitt's Sonny Hayes and Damson Idris' Joshua Pearce getting LEGO versions. That's an extra minifigure compared to the other LEGO Speed Champions Formula 1 sets for the same price, when the LEGO Group could easily have only included one.
It's a welcome extra addition, especially considering we're unlikely to get any other sets based on the F1 movie and therefore no other opportunities for the characters to show up. The inclusion of two minifigure reflects the pattern for another movie-inspired Speed Champions set, 77256 Time Machine from Back to the Future, but truly marks a departure from the tried-and-tested Speed Champions formula.
What's more, 77252 APXGP Team Race Car can include named drivers, as the F1 Movie is set in stone, rather than needing to rely on anonymous faces like those based on real F1 teams. That specificity also carried through to the helmets, with special prints that align with the identities of the drivers.
Another aesthetic difference from the other LEGO Speed Champions Formula 1 sets is that there are far fewer sponsor stickers. While Speed Champions are often known for the prevalent use of stickers, there appear to be fewer in 77252 APXGP Team Race Car than the rest of the LEGO grid.
Practically, this is likely due to the fact that the real teams are actually reliant on sponsorships for the huge amounts of money required to compete in Formula 1. The LEGO Group need to include them all (or as many as possible) to stay as authentic as possible, whereas the APXGP car has fewer sponsorships in general.
Aesthetically, it also means that 77252 APXGP Team Race Car has a sleeker, more minimalistic look than many of the other Speed Champions Formula 1 cars.
That's not to say anything negative about the original wave of 10 cars, however. The sponsor stickers and inclusion of just one anonymous minifigure make sense for what those sets are trying to do. It also comes down to practicalities: the F1 Movie's drivers are already decided, while real Formula 1 teams' line-ups can change on a dime, meaning it's hard to base minifigures on them.
It does show, though, that basing a Speed Champions Formula 1 car on a fictional version offers more freedom in some ways, delivering a sleeker final look with more minifigures – and all for the same price.
LEGO Speed Champions 77252 APXGP Team Race Car is available to pre-order now on LEGO.com for £22.99 in the UK, $27.99 in the US, and from €27.99 in Europe.
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