Review: 77242 Ferrari SF-24 and 77243 Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20
Posted by CapnRex101,
LEGO has produced many versions of Ferrari F1 cars, beginning in 1998 and continuing through the 2000s and 2010s. However, the streak ended seven years ago and 77242 Ferrari SF-24 shows how significantly LEGO Formula 1 designs have developed since.
Red Bull Racing, meanwhile, had never appeared in LEGO form prior to this year, despite the team's success on track. 77243 Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 is accordingly much-anticipated and I have no doubt the Ferrari will prove popular as well.
Minifigures
A new helmet has been developed for these Speed Champions sets, including more moulded detail than the existing element, particularly on the back. I like the tinted visors and the printed Ferrari and Red Bull symbols, though the lack of decoration to match real drivers' helmets may disappoint some.
Personally, I think the simplified helmets work well, but I do wish there was more detail on the drivers' racing suits. While the red and dark blue designs are fine, the minifigure provided with 75879 Scuderia Ferrari SF16-H from 2017, for instance, featured lots of accurate sponsors and intricate stitching, which these two lack.
However, they are supplied with alternative hair pieces and the Ferrari driver certainly bears a resemblance to Charles Leclerc, although the minifigures are apparently not based on specific drivers. Silver wrenches are found in each set too, used to remove the wheel caps.
Reference
Source - wikipedia.com
Source - redbull.com
The Completed Models
Speed Champions almost perfected the proportions of Formula 1 cars at this scale in 2024, so only relatively small adjustments were needed for the new sets, taking advantage of some new elements produced for F1 cars. That definitely benefits the Ferrari SF-24, as the model's overall shape looks fantastic and its livery stands out among the ten teams, as normal for Ferrari.
The front wing is one of few basically identical features across the range, which makes sense because these are very similar on real F1 cars. The wing's curvature is accurate and I like the white highlights added by the HP branding, which mirror similar accents on the rear wing. Also, the 1x1 slope and 1x6 curved slope comprising the nose are both printed.
Among the new elements introduced this year are combined suspension and wheel deflectors, used for the front wheels. These parts are highly specialised, but necessarily so, especially for the deflectors, which curve realistically around the tyres. The tyres themselves, meanwhile, are decorated to serve as yellow-walled mediums, with printed 2x2 dishes inside.
The combination of black and red bodywork looks excellent, notably including a pair of printed 1x1 slopes near the mirrors, where the two colours meet. The white and yellow stripes starting on the side pods and continuing towards the rear are attractive too, mainly consisting of printed and stickered pieces, with yellow brackets contributing in the middle.
There is enough room for the driver in the cockpit, surrounded by the halo and a printed video game controller for the steering wheel. These features are shared across the Formula 1 range, but the cars' air intakes differ and the Ferrari is perhaps the most unusual. Red doors create its unique triangular shape, with the structure under the camera mount sandwiched in between.
The bulges on the airbox behind the intake look awkward from certain angles, but I cannot see how they could be avoided without losing the shape of the intake. Otherwise, the side pods are sculpted brilliantly and I like how 1x4 bows are used towards the back, matching the 2x2 curved wedge slopes alongside.
Much like the front, the rear wing is near-identical between the ten sets. Again though, there is little need for variation and this section certainly improves on the models from last year, thanks partly to the new 2x6 concave slope on top, which makes the entire design smoother. The wide rear wheels are also welcome, again improving on the 2024 sets.
I have been looking forward to seeing how the eye-catching Red Bull livery would translate to LEGO form and the combination of dark blue and yellow is appealing, as expected. Moreover, the shaping is again impressive, particularly on the side pods in this case, which are incredibly smooth, benefitting from another new element.
The stickered and printed designs across the nose and front wing looks superb, featuring two Pegasus symbols on the end plates. The attention to detail here is outstanding, as the Pegasi correctly face forward and two tiles are therefore needed, when repeating the same one would have been easier, but wrong.
The bodywork around the cockpit is interesting, as the halo stanchion rests behind a 2x2 half rounded tile. The same technique is used in 77246 Visa Cash App VCARB 01, but only these two, for reasons unknown. Regardless, this structure works and I like the barge boards behind the front wheels, with 1x1 tooth plates adding realistic texture.
As normal for these F1 cars, spoons form the mirrors and there is room for a minifigure inside, whose light bluish grey helmet contrasts well with the model. The air intake is relatively simple here and I wish its distinctive double supports were represented, although including such small details would doubtless be very challenging at this scale.
I love the side pods on this model, which are probably the smoothest of any car in this series. The 2x4 curved wedge slopes used towards the rear are new parts, similar to the 2x3 curved wedge slopes introduced a few years ago. Although stickers are needed for the stripes on the side pods, the prominent Red Bull logos on the airbox are printed and look marvellous.
The RB20's red-walled tyres are softs, completing the three tyre compounds between 77251 McLaren F1 Team MCL38, the Ferrari and the Red Bull. Otherwise, the back of the car looks similar to others on the grid, albeit using a black horn for the DRS actuator, intended to mirror the noticeably curved actuator on the actual vehicle.
Overall
77242 Ferrari SF-24 and 77243 Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 are certain to prove successful, given the teams' popularity and the models' colourful liveries. Both are brilliantly detailed and I am delighted with the highlighting of even subtle differences between the real cars, particularly on the side pods and airboxes.
Stickers are abundant on both cars, with 38 stickers decorating the Ferrari and 35 on the Red Bull. Fewer would be nice, of course, but stickers are inevitable on sponsor-heavy racing cars and there are plenty of printed pieces too. I feel the same about the price of £22.99, $26.99 or €26.99 for each set, which feels fairly expensive compared to previous Speed Champions sets, but that is arguably justified by their continued improvements.
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42 comments on this article
Oooo sneak peak!
I am definitely considering picking up one of these as a parts pack, I think theyre very good for small detailed spacecraft, I think the ones built out of these sets are almost certainly going to be racing themed given the sponsor stickers!
Some of the building techniques in this set are more ingenuitive than I was expecting.
Pre-ordered both of these already. A few welcome improvements over the already great McLaren and Aston Martin F1 cars from 2023 / 2024 which I already have, such as rear tyre width, front wheel deflector and suspension and the tweak to the nose width.
Can’t bring myself to buy the Merc, only buying the Ferrari as it is the 2024 model and not the 2025.
The race suits and helmets are a disappointment but not a showstopper.
Really considering the Red Bull one. Either this or the Visa Red Bull one, since they both have printed air intakes vs stickers on all the other cars.
The only two interesting F1 sets this year for me.
I got both yesterday. I don't know if I'll get the other ones. I do have the Austin martin and MacLaren from last year and I loved both.
Can't wait until these hit 20% off.
DA DA DADA MAX VERSTAPPEN
Good review, probably be getting both, but those red printed figures on the Red Bull car are bulls, not pegasi.
@ThunderCracker81 said:
"Good review, probably be getting both, but those red printed figures on the Red Bull car are bulls, not pegasi. "
The animals on the front wing end plates are pegasi.
Is the 1x6 curved slope on the Red Bull nose dual-molded? The abrupt change in color looks too good for printing…
Generally these builds look pretty good, and those front suspension pieces certainly help. Wish they had made a piece for the halo. Great that they now have wider tires on the rear, but they still look too small. Obviously don't like this many stickers, but considering it's Lego it is to be expected. And even more disappointing is that they don't include numbers for the drivers, there really needs to be a big red 1 on front of that RB20. And why even include a minifig if it's not one of the drivers? Might still pick these up when they drop below €20.
Have seen a few comparissons with other brands, for most part I would pick this RB over the one from Rastar, which seems rather rough. Unfortunately CaDa only has the Sauber, which makes mince meat out of the Lego one (well, apart from those front suspension pieces that is).
@snake8257 said:
"Is the 1x6 curved slope on the Red Bull nose dual-molded? The abrupt change in color looks too good for printing…"
It is actually very good dark blue printing on a yellow piece, going right to the edges.
These were the first two I built, starting with the Ferrari which took me over an hour due to all the fiddly stickers! One feature I strongly dislike is the middle part that is loosely unattached between the doors. The new wheels and front suspension parts are a welcome change. They still haven't solved the issue of the wobbly nose section though, which is an issue for all of the cars.
The Red Bull car didn't take me as long to build, as the stickers were smaller and easier to apply, and I had gotten used to building the rear wing and front nose sections. That was a more satisfying build. I also built the Aston Martin, which only took half an hour, but I was a bit peeved at having a generic female minifig. I would have liked to have had actual named drivers, and car numbers.
Stickers really ruined the building experience for me though. Annoyingly, some parts were printed, so if they can do it for some parts then why not for all parts? I would hate to be a 10 year old having to deal with all of those.
If TLG thinks they can capitalize on a trillion recolours of the same model, then here to disappoint. No, you won't.
Cool Helmets!
From when the F1 link was first announced Red Bull was the livery I was most looking forward to, and this doesn't disappoint! Tyre sizes obviously make the cars look much better (although they didn't particularly bother me before!). As always, I'm not keen on stickers representing body shapes, but any stickers representing stickers/wraps are absolutely fine by me.
Only got the Ferrari so far, for the sake of the 'polybag', but they will all come in time!
Notice how he reviewed them together... BECAUSE THEY'RE EXACTLY THE SAME. ALL TEN OF THEM ARE.
@DaLegoNerd1 said:
"Notice how he reviewed them together... BECAUSE THEY'RE EXACTLY THE SAME. ALL TEN OF THEM ARE."
Yeah Lego is really all in with its F1 partnership this year; so far we've got 34 sets related to F1 Cars
https://brickset.com/sets/tag-Formula-1/year-2025
https://brickset.com/sets/tag-Formula-1-Branded/year-2025
@DaLegoNerd1 said:
"Notice how he reviewed them together... BECAUSE THEY'RE EXACTLY THE SAME. ALL TEN OF THEM ARE."
@DaLegoNerd1 said:
"Notice how he reviewed them together... BECAUSE THEY'RE EXACTLY THE SAME. ALL TEN OF THEM ARE."
Still vastly more different than those two posts from you....
At most, I will buy one of the 10 cars. So I wonder which of them has the best combination of parts available and building technique? Anyone want to give their opinion?
@DaLegoNerd1 said:
"Notice how he reviewed them together... BECAUSE THEY'RE EXACTLY THE SAME. ALL TEN OF THEM ARE."
They are similar enough that individual reviews of all ten would be repetitive, but different enough to be accurate to the real cars.
@fredrigl said:
"At most, I will buy one of the 10 cars. So I wonder which of them has the best combination of parts available and building technique? Anyone want to give their opinion?"
I favour the Red Bull because I find its bodywork shaping and livery the best, but the Ferrari probably has the most interesting building techniques. All are good though, as expected for Speed Champions.
I wasn't planning to get any of the F1 Speed Champs for this yer, but I may just get 77243. As you said, Capn, that color scheme is very attractive.
Probably the only 2 I’m interested in
@Maxbricks14 said:
"The only two interesting F1 sets this year for me."
yeah i like the right one
That red bull driver looks familiar…
Everyone complaining about stickers, when the actual cars are covered in decals. I get they're a pain to apply, but stickers make the most sense when in comes to sponsors decaled onto a car.
Red Bull! I love energy drinks!!! Agsisocaowhxba
To those saying they're exactly the same, they're really not, but you do have to look closely. These aren't for me, but I appreciate the attention to detail. I may pick up one or two if they happen to be on discount and in colors I like.
That's funny, those are the same two F1 cars I ordered last night on the LEGO Shop. I wanted that Ferrari polybag, AND free shipping. And the Red Bull car had nice livery.
The Ferrari is a fun build, with some great techniques.
We picked it up this weekend at a Lego store – and what I was most excited about – was the free GwP Ferrari 499P - Hypercar.
here is hoping this will see a full size Speed Champion release, similar to previous polybags.
https://www.lego.com/en-gb/product/ferrari-499p-hypercar-30709?CMP=AFC-AffiliateUK-US9P%2F9RI%2FvA-2860710-1539294-10
@Zrath said:
"That's funny, those are the same two F1 cars I ordered last night on the LEGO Shop. I wanted that Ferrari polybag, AND free shipping. And the Red Bull car had nice livery."
"Spend 1.02 € more to get FREE delivery"
I hate it when that happens :-(
(Even more so since the Ferrari is on backorder. Meanwhile I can get them from Amazon both with 15% discount and free delivery tomorrow....but obviously not with that GWP)
I have nearly all of the Speed Champions set since Lego made them 8-studs-wide. I wasn't overly keen on getting every F1 car but having read the reviews they seem to be more varied than I first thought.
As a Lewis Hamilton fan I will be buying the Ferrari one first.
@The_Sly_Fox said:
"As a Lewis Hamilton fan I will be buying the Ferrari one first. "
Keep in mind these are the 2024 cars, so Lewis still with Mercedes. The 2025 Ferrari doesn't have the white and yellow lines but a rather conspicuous white HP sponsoring on the airbox.
I got the Williams on Saturday and I thought it was a reasonably interesting build with some interesting techniques, and ones I doubt LEGO would really use elsewhere. I find the cockpit areas on these models to be a little messy and too cramped - in the Williams, at least, it's hard to fit the minifig in nicely.
One thing I feel the review missed on mentioning is that these models are quite fragile as far as LEGO goes. You have assemblies attached by one or two studs so they're not really "play" models in my opinion, because you'd have parts falling off with rigorous play, but as display pieces I think they're pretty reasonable and make you feel "involved".
@Trigger_ said:
"Red Bull! I love energy drinks!!! Agsisocaowhxba"
I really don't like the drink, but their cars and stunts are great!
@WizardOfOss said:
"(Meanwhile I can get them from Amazon both with 15% discount and free delivery tomorrow....but obviously not with that GWP)"
No such dilemma on Amazon UK. All full RRP at the moment, and normally for a couple of months (or more for particularly popular models)
@WizardOfOss said:
" @The_Sly_Fox said:
"As a Lewis Hamilton fan I will be buying the Ferrari one first. "
Keep in mind these are the 2024 cars, so Lewis still with Mercedes. The 2025 Ferrari doesn't have the white and yellow lines but a rather conspicuous white HP sponsoring on the airbox."
Good point. I should have known that.
@sjr60 said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"(Meanwhile I can get them from Amazon both with 15% discount and free delivery tomorrow....but obviously not with that GWP)"
No such dilemma on Amazon UK. All full RRP at the moment, and normally for a couple of months (or more for particularly popular models)
"
I am actually surprised the RB immediately got discounted....everything related to Max Verstappen would still sell like hotcakes anyway. Another webshop even has it for €22, but different from Amazon they do have shipping costs.
The big Technic RB can also already been had at €179, a 22% discount.
@Gemini_Phoenix said:
"...The Red Bull car didn't take me as long to build, as the stickers were smaller and easier to apply, and I had gotten used to building the rear wing and front nose sections. That was a more satisfying build..."
I built all 10 from the Amazon 66802 exclusive and enjoyed the Red Bull car the most as well.
@DaLegoNerd1 said:
"Notice how he reviewed them together... BECAUSE THEY'RE EXACTLY THE SAME. ALL TEN OF THEM ARE."
No they're not...you can see the differences if you actually looked at the pictures. There will obviously be similarities given the subject matter but they are not "exactly the same", which you would know if you built them. The front and tail wings are nearly identical between all 10 cars, however, they are implemented slightly different between most of them.
One of the cars uses extra brackets on each side of the front wing but I forget which one. Some of the cars use 2 1x4 technic bricks instead of the 2x2 round brick to connect the tail. There are a couple other techniques used to differentiate the tail section as well. Every mid section is built differently, although some use similar techniques (such as the reverse sloped bricks to connect the side mirrors).
Having just received both of these I was surprised to find 18+ branding on the box of the Red Bull and 10+ on the Ferrari. Why the difference? Is the Red Bull drink only for adults?
@turboslot said:
"Having just received both of these I was surprised to find 18+ branding on the box of the Red Bull and 10+ on the Ferrari. Why the difference? Is the Red Bull drink only for adults?"
It's because of the sponsorship stickers, for example endorsing gambling via sponsorships or energy drinks would make this unsuitable for kids