Review: 43014 Charles Leclerc Helmet

The price is okay, the recent non-LEGO 1/2 scale replicas are EUR 175 upwards.

Some of them even come with visor tear off strips.

@ArchonCreations said:
"The internal engineering alone is enough to justify the price imo. How on earth does one begin to design something like that?

A great review too, definitely convinced me to pick up one of the helmets for sure. Though I'm not sure if the Ferrari ones are what I'd go for. Are there any others confirmed yet?"

Same. I was ambivalent on these when I saw them a few weeks back- they looked great but, due to that, thinking they were simple. So this review has elevated their appeal and I will have both.

@ArchonCreations said:
"The internal engineering alone is enough to justify the price imo. How on earth does one begin to design something like that?

A great review too, definitely convinced me to pick up one of the helmets for sure. Though I'm not sure if the Ferrari ones are what I'd go for. Are there any others confirmed yet?"

Confirmed, no.
Leaked, yes.

I think these are great, a much better value than the sticker-fest Speed Champions F1 series. I will be getting both and hope for more.
I do wish that the minifigs came with helmets as well, as then I could customize the Speed Champions sets.

Looks very good, considering this is made out of LEGO pieces. Kudos for the engineering on this set. And soooo many printed pieces.

@Kalhiki said:
"So glad that visor isn't printed. Would make a great window for a spaceship, like you mentioned!
"

I was also so happy to see that the visor isn't printed!

I’m really looking foward to picking this one up. I’m planning on modding it to look like a super cross helmet, they already achieved most of the curves. I just need to make the front bottom of the helnet longer and narrower, add some vents and figure out how to make the long sun visor thing. I’m really hoping they’ll do a Red Bull helmet because that would make it look even better!

Good review, and seems like a pretty good set indeed! It's a bit weird that with all those prints, a printed visor apparently was one printed piece too many. But glad they included a spare and alternative. I mean, any difficult to apply sticker should have a spare, or even better, just include a spare sticker sheet....

Now I'm not particularly interested in either Leclerc or Hamilton (maybe if they would do some of his older, more iconic helmets...), but there are a couple of drivers currently on the grid, and even more in the past, I'd love to get such a helmet of!

Oh, as for the minifig: I don't really mind he doesn't have a helmet. Looking at the helmets that came with the F1 cars were pretty lackluster, and right next to this big helmet that would only be more obvious. That said, can't say the minifig looks anything like Charles either....could have done without. Not all sets need minifigs....

Fantastic review!

I'm amazed at all the printed parts and also wonder why other sets are similarly overpriced but can't get this premium treatment. The visor piece is really cool and I hope they're available on Pick a Brick in the future so I can get my hands on one. The build techniques are fascinating, this looks much more complex than the other helmet sets. If I found this at 50% off I'd consider buying it just for the build experience.

And I love seeing that extra stickers are included in case you mess up! That's a very nice touch and should become commonplace IMO - it can't cost TLG much to just throw an extra sheet in.

I was about to opine about the surprising and rare use of the word "masterpiece" for a new set....but I then doublechecked and can see that its actually a bit ubiquitous in LEGO press releases as well as a handful of Brickset reviews.

Some of the other LEGO helmets are really splendid and without the benefit of so many custom pieces. As such, I would encourage folks to give them a try too.

I really like the look of this set. But at that cost and for a sport I don't watch, I'll have to simply admire from the pit.

These helmets look amazing. It is a technological marvel.

That alone is worth the price.

So, that’s another hairpiece for the hunger of zombies. An F1 fan in my LUG has repeatedly lamented the lack of actual driver minifigs and minifig helmets, so doing the former without any consideration for the latter feels a bit like the set designers are trolling the fanbase.

@ArchonCreations said:
"The internal engineering alone is enough to justify the price imo. How on earth does one begin to design something like that?"

Start with the outside and work your way in. That’s how I design cars.

Maybe expensive for its size.
But, 33printed parts, nicely printed minifig, etc, compensates it very well.
And cash per piece is OK too.

I had no plans to buy these helmets. Now? I'm considering.
And I can already hear my wallet screaming.

Although I watch F1 I must admit I wouldn't recognise one driver's helmet from another. However that doesn't detract from the fact that this looks fantastic and, judging by the leaks, will grow into a brilliant display collection.

These are appealing to me as an F1 fan, but the price means that collecting multiple is going to get expensive quickly.

@Elcascador said:
"To be honest: "not for beginners" would be a plus for many LEGO fans, so why not put it as both a plus and a minus?"

I second the motion, and not just because I love it when reviews do that.

@monty_bricks said:"I find the omission of a helmet for the minifigure a bizarre miss, given the focus of the set! The Senna/Mansell/Schumacher figures from the Icons cars all came with printed helmets. I would gladly have traded one print for a sticker plus a printed minifigure helmet"

Presumably, they didn't want to cover up the minifigure's face, although having the helmet off to the side (mounted on a 1x1 round brick or something) could have been an option.

@sipuss said:
" @Kre_O said:
"AFOLs moan when sets contain stickers, the same AFOLs are now moaning that sets contain printed parts."
AFOLs moan that some sets can get tens of printed pieces while other overpriced sets have everything stickered, including basic stuff that could be realistically reused in more sets. Such nuance might indeed not be visible from high up on your horse, though."

Nice try but no, it’s just the more mundane and typical phenomenon whereby people aren’t concerned about logical consistency because the siren song of complaining with a hot take is too strong.

Not to mention, it’s professional racing - the entire sport is dominated by advertising all over the cars and the drivers. Everyone knows this - and for anyone who likes the sport enough to be interested in a set like this to complain about too many prints, that’s just silly (to put it politely). The A in AFOL is supposed to stand for Adult.

At any rate, this kind of set holds zero interest for me personally, but I think it’s beautiful and ingeniously designed.

'Almost seamless' shaping? *Stares at the large gaps and seams at the jaw, forehead, crown, back and pretty much everywhere*.

Inigo Montoya: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

@sjr60 said:
"Although I watch F1 I must admit I wouldn't recognise one driver's helmet from another. "
It surely doesn't help that A) you barely see the hemet now with the halo, and B) I sometimes get the feeling they have a new helmet every other race. They just don't get the chance to become as iconic as some if the old ones that were used for many years.

Isnt there a budget for printed parts and specialised parts? An exemption made for this one perhaps given the importance of the F1 licensing. Or someone very important really likes F1

Multiple stickers in case it goes wrong is a first, they reall went all out on this one.

Charles Leclerc? Never heard of him. Which Star Wars movie/show is he from?

I must admit I wasn't at all interested in the set when it was revealed, but your review has made me reconsider.
I will (of course) wait for a discount, but at least the hefty RRP can be somewhat justified here by the premium treatment the set receives.
Should be standard across the range (as it is with other manufacturers like Pantasy), but it's a start - and proof that it is possible even for LEGO - if they are willing (which particularly in the case of Star Wars they are definitely not).

@tm76 said:
"Isnt there a budget for printed parts and specialised parts? An exemption made for this one perhaps given the importance of the F1 licensing. Or someone very important really likes F1

Multiple stickers in case it goes wrong is a first, they reall went all out on this one."

Don’t we believe that F1 is subsidizing the sets as advertising as opposed to LEGO purchasing a license from F1?

Too louse, Leclerc

These helmets have a competitor in the form of 1:2-scale replicas made by Bell helmets in the same factory that the real helmets come out of in Bahrain:

https://www.bellcollectibles.com/c/bell-mini-helmets/

I had the opportunity to have a look at a few of them in a motorsports store this week. They're basically plastic vacuum-formed shells with high quality printing, opening visors and HANS clips with metal fittings, and an interior made of styrofoam lined with padding and fabric, as well as a chin strap just like the real things.

They're very good, but the prices are a lot higher than the Lego sets. Depending on the driver or significance, they vary from about €120 to €300. They do not come with a stand or a display case. You simply take them out of the box and put them on a shelf.

If I was to make a choice between the two, it would be the Lego every time.

@tm76 said:
"Isnt there a budget for printed parts and specialised parts? An exemption made for this one perhaps given the importance of the F1 licensing. Or someone very important really likes F1

Multiple stickers in case it goes wrong is a first, they reall went all out on this one."

Set designers get a limited budget to create new elements. This includes simple recolors, new prints, and even new molds (how those count against the budget, we don't really know). The person who came up with Brickheadz once mentioned in an interview that many themes burn their budgets on minifigs, so they don't have the leftover slots to devote to printed elements. Brickheadz don't come with minifigs, so at the time that had never been a problem for him. All Brickheadz at the time of publication had exclusively used printed elements.

So, we know there's a new element budget, but I've never heard how it's apportioned out, whether it's by set, by designer, or by theme. But every time they use a sticker, that's one more slot that's available for a recolored part or a new minifig element. So, unless AFOLs want to see a return to the days when sets just retreaded the same handful of minifigs, or they used odd color choices in the exterior design, stickers are the way they avoid both of those things.

Considering how imperfect Lego's previous attempts at printing white on trans pieces turned out, it is a probably a good job that this one has a sticker.

I have zero interest in F1 but I think I will pick up one of these at a discount just to enjoy the what appear to be quite crazy building techniques.

Oh, and I am happy that visor is not printed. Seems like a very cool piece to use in many other applications.

@PurpleDave said:
" @tm76 said:
"Isnt there a budget for printed parts and specialised parts? An exemption made for this one perhaps given the importance of the F1 licensing. Or someone very important really likes F1

Multiple stickers in case it goes wrong is a first, they reall went all out on this one."

Set designers get a limited budget to create new elements. This includes simple recolors, new prints, and even new molds (how those count against the budget, we don't really know). The person who came up with Brickheadz once mentioned in an interview that many themes burn their budgets on minifigs, so they don't have the leftover slots to devote to printed elements. Brickheadz don't come with minifigs, so at the time that had never been a problem for him. All Brickheadz at the time of publication had exclusively used printed elements.

So, we know there's a new element budget, but I've never heard how it's apportioned out, whether it's by set, by designer, or by theme. But every time they use a sticker, that's one more slot that's available for a recolored part or a new minifig element. So, unless AFOLs want to see a return to the days when sets just retreaded the same handful of minifigs, or they used odd color choices in the exterior design, stickers are the way they avoid both of those things."

"Every year, design leads like Scott are given a limited number of frames that they can spend on their entire portfolio for physical pieces that aren’t readily at hand." From https://www.theverge.com/c/23991049/lego-ideas-polaroid-onestep-behind-the-scenes-price It's not mentioned in the article (or at least I missed it while skimming through), but I believe that sometimes, a lead will give up a frame that they can do without so that another design lead can use it.

I’m so blown away by different building techniques lately. The Tintin Rocket and DC-3 both contain some amazing techniques, that have so many intricacies to make a fantastic looking end result. Kudos to the designers of all these sets.

@Klontjes said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"So, unless AFOLs want to see a return to the days when sets just retreaded the same handful of minifigs, or they used odd color choices in the exterior design, stickers are the way they avoid both of those things."

You treat those restrictions as fixed and therein lies the problem I think. I'm sort of confused why Lego goes out of their way to make the level of frustration in the build process as low as possible (colour coding, brainless instructions), but still insist on using stickers on many, many unwarrented occasions. Stickers sometimes just straight up spoil a build experience. Reapplying a sticker three times and still not having it line up just pisses me off.

I understand the need for restrictions, but Lego made them up, so they can change them as well (this helmet seems proof of that).

As for this set: this review wants me to build it, but I still don't want to own it..."

Sure, the restrictions are self-imposed. But they're self-imposed for a reason, and that reason is the two years when TLG lost so much money that Mattel made an earnest offer to buy the company, and Kjeld Kirk (and maybe some of the other family members) had to cover the loss out of personal wealth. Smaller companies have similarly smaller inventories to manage. TLG has a massive portfolio of new sets offered each year, plus all of the previous years' sets that are in the middle of multi-year runs. If they're still introducing at least 500 new sets per year, how many total sets do they have in production at any point in time? And most of those carryover sets are going to be on the large side ($200+), so the part inventory they have to keep track of, now across seven different countries where parts are produced, on three different continents, is enormous even without prints being added into the mix. Add in all the prints, and it just balloons the range of parts they have to inventory. Add in changing all the stickers to prints, and it could get absolutely ridiculous. If it doubled the amount of parts they had to slot into their inventory system, I wouldn't be even a tiny bit surprised.

For licensed IP, there's also the issue of licensor demands. In the Speed Champions line, it's been mentioned that the manufacturers want their logos printed at all times, and that there was a push for headlights and taillights to either be brickbuilt or printed, and never stickered (ironic, in the case of 77255). For the helmets, you've got the F1 organization itself, the teams that compete in F1, the individual drivers, and the sponsors who fund everything. Any or all of them could have pressed for prints over stickers, especially considering how many of these parts have complex curves. The instant you have to print one sponsor's logo because the shape it has to fit can't be stickered, you risk having all the other sponsors complaining about getting equal treatment. I've heard more helmets are coming, but not whether it's limited to the top drivers or if they're going to make them for all 22 of the 2026 drivers. It'll be interesting to see if they do crank out 22 helmets with this many prints, vs only doing helmets for the top drivers, or even doing more stickers for the bottom tier drivers.

The build looks very impressive - I checked with my partner who has done all the helmet building thus far and they thought this one looks much more complex than the average - and I hope F1 fans get much joy from it.

@Luthercpa

I don’t know what the F1/Lego contract looks like but at least based on Brickset statistics the kits have been popular enough for F1 not to have to subsidise it. The Speed Champions cars made up a solid chunk of the most-added-to-collections of their release year. It’s entirely possible that after seeing those sales figures they’re just confident that lots of people will want to buy an F1 helmet at a price high enough for them to make all those printed pieces.

@Hiratha said:
" @Luthercpa

I don’t know what the F1/Lego contract looks like but at least based on Brickset statistics the kits have been popular enough for F1 not to have to subsidise it. The Speed Champions cars made up a solid chunk of the most-added-to-collections of their release year. It’s entirely possible that after seeing those sales figures they’re just confident that lots of people will want to buy an F1 helmet at a price high enough for them to make all those printed pieces."

With everything I've heard about F1 and money, I can't see them paying anyone to feature them anyways.

I also love purchasing [product] and displaying it my house so that I can advertise for [company]. We are at the point where people are willing paying for advertising under the guise of "accuracy".

@PurpleDave said:
" @Hiratha said:
" @Luthercpa

I don’t know what the F1/Lego contract looks like but at least based on Brickset statistics the kits have been popular enough for F1 not to have to subsidise it. The Speed Champions cars made up a solid chunk of the most-added-to-collections of their release year. It’s entirely possible that after seeing those sales figures they’re just confident that lots of people will want to buy an F1 helmet at a price high enough for them to make all those printed pieces."

With everything I've heard about F1 and money, I can't see them paying anyone to feature them anyways."

They’ve pretty clearly been on a mass charm&merchandising offensive for the last few years, of which Lego is but one brand of many they’ve been working with, but as far as the terms goes we can only speculate. It seems to me anything is *possible*, but the popularity of the kits makes F1 subsidising Lego seem less *likely*.

I couldn't imagine, what "Monégasque" means. :D

@Hiratha said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Hiratha said:
" @Luthercpa

I don’t know what the F1/Lego contract looks like but at least based on Brickset statistics the kits have been popular enough for F1 not to have to subsidise it. The Speed Champions cars made up a solid chunk of the most-added-to-collections of their release year. It’s entirely possible that after seeing those sales figures they’re just confident that lots of people will want to buy an F1 helmet at a price high enough for them to make all those printed pieces."

With everything I've heard about F1 and money, I can't see them paying anyone to feature them anyways."

They’ve pretty clearly been on a mass charm&merchandising offensive for the last few years, of which Lego is but one brand of many they’ve been working with, but as far as the terms goes we can only speculate. It seems to me anything is *possible*, but the popularity of the kits makes F1 subsidising Lego seem less *likely*."

TLG is sponsoring an F4 team this year, and sales of F1 sets should be able to cover some form of payment to the F1 organization, the teams, and presumably now even the drivers. In the film industry, merchandising can be more profitable than the film itself, or it can make the difference between success and failure. I just can't see F1 being the one exception to that rule and paying someone to make merch. They may have reduced whatever fees they'd normally charge, or they could have just pressed harder to find interested licensing partners and/or get that product into new markets. Like TLG themselves, they're probably finding that market saturation in some parts of the world means that the easiest way to grow the brand is to expand into untapped or underdeveloped markets. Getting a wider range of toys into US markets is one way to accomplish that, and we've been seeing die-cast F1 cars in at least 3-4 different scales lately.

"To be able to recreate something so curvaceous with LEGO amazes me."

Would have been a valid comment 35 years ago, but,...now,...!?

I'd love to see a similarly scaled LEGO Classic Space helmet with visor. Or the slightly younger motorcycle helmet.

Pack it with different colored visors so it can be a Futuron version or Spyrius or Unitron or whatever faction is your favorite.

These packed with minifig versions of whichever figure wore the helmet would be really cool.

If they want to go the printed route, Spyrius and Unitron helmets had printed designs.

Oooooh, what about an Ice Planet Helmet with visor?! Wait, nevermind, no more trans neon orange??.

Print a large tile with the logo of the faction to be part of the display stand with the fig and you're set.

@bmwlego said:
"I'd love to see a similarly scaled LEGO Classic Space helmet with visor. Or the slightly younger motorcycle helmet.

Pack it with different colored visors so it can be a Futuron version or Spyrius or Unitron or whatever faction is your favorite.

These packed with minifig versions of whichever figure wore the helmet would be really cool.

If they want to go the printed route, Spyrius and Unitron helmets had printed designs.

Oooooh, what about an Ice Planet Helmet with visor?! Wait, nevermind, no more trans neon orange??.

Print a large tile with the logo of the faction to be part of the display stand with the fig and you're set. "

If they only did one of those, I'd buy it Day One. If they did a series... I'd just stick to my favorite factions, but I'd still be getting at least one. If they did Ice Planet, I'd even overlook the fact that it was the wrong shade of transparent orange.

I have just added these to my wish list, though they are not something I would pay full price for at $150 in Australia (helmet series are usually $90-$100). Huws' level of enthusiasm for a none technic set convinced me to consider them if I see a good 30% discount somewhere :)

@bmwlego said:
"I'd love to see a similarly scaled LEGO Classic Space helmet with visor."

With…visor? So, Castle?

"Print a large tile with the logo of the faction to be part of the display stand with the fig and you're set. "

Ooh, start with OG Blacktron! And then you can stop.

This set and the build complexity almost makes me wish I was into F1! I have a few of the SC cars, but I've never watched any and I likely wouldn't need this on my shelf. But it looks really well done. I am impressed. If I ever find it on a good sale, I'll consider it.

It just looks massively over-engineered from what I can see.

When finished all you can see is ~20 sponsor covered curved plates. many of them new moulds. You could have just moulded them to stick onto a simple cube covered in snot bricks. And made it significantly cheaper.

I'm sure F1 & LEGO will make good money from them, but they leave me completely cold.