LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell excellently captures one of F1’s most successful cars and world champions in LEGO form.
Hot on the wheels of 10330 McLaren MP4/4 & Ayrton Senna comes 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell, built to the same style, scale and detail, this time offering a different iconic team and livery from the archives of Formula 1. How else do you follow up one of the sport’s most successful driver-team pairings than with another?
And, what’s more, the LEGO Icons team has heard the feedback and improved the biggest flaw with Senna’s McLaren, because this LEGO Williams model has wider rear tyres! These ones are printed too. It’s the little things that make all the difference, particularly for a concept that otherwise just needs to tick the same boxes that the Senna McLaren did as well (if not better) to offer the same authentic and fun LEGO experience well worth the price of admission.
10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell does just that, offering a peek under the hood and a workaround of the eye-catching livery of the car that absolutely dominated the 1992 Formula 1 Championship, which saw British driver Mansell win the first five races of the campaign (and teammate Riccardo Patrese place second in all but one of them), become the first driver to win nine races in a single season and sew up his one and only world championship with almost a third of the season still to go.
This is one of the sport’s most successful and famous cars, combining the ingenuity of Frank Williams, design of Adrian Newey and the expertise of the Williams team with the unwavering ambition of driver Mansell, all racing under one of the most recognisable and iconic livery designs of all time.
A beautiful car in shape and appearance needs more than the scale of Speed Champions to do it justice, and this larger size absolutely fits the bill, allowing much more detail to be given over to the various aspects of the FW14’s make-up. That’s both inside, where you can lift the engine cover to reveal a nice recreation of the 3.5-litre V10 Renault engine that powered this thing, and outside, as the curves across the bodywork and chassis unique to the Williams are wonderfully recreated with various pieces.
Admittedly, as with the McLaren counterpart from last year, 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell does rely a little on a number of stickers to add detail to the livery (the tyres are printed and so too is the quote placard for minifigure Mansell), but every effort has been made to include all that the LEGO team could include. As was the case with the Senna McLaren, the days of cigarette advertising are long behind us, and the compromise in this case with using the Williams logo makes sense, and is particularly nicely done for how it uses the team’s logo from 1992, rather than 2025. Again, it’s the little details that really make the difference.
This LEGO Icons series takes accuracy seriously and you can see the research and understanding that has gone into giving one of F1’s most famous team’s most famous cars and world champions a LEGO set worthy of their achievement. For F1 aficionados and LEGO fans alike, 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell is one to love.
LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & 10330 McLaren MP4/4 comparison
10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell takes what was great about 10330 McLaren MP4/4 & Ayrton Senna and improves on what didn’t work so well, at the same time as benefiting from a slightly more engaging car design and livery to work with. Whilst Ayrton Senna’s 1988 McLaren is just as iconic, the white and red livery combined with the notable issue around the slim rear wheels count against the set when put in comparison with this year’s set based on the 1992 Williams.
These are small details though, because there’s no real comparison to be made between two different car designs separated by four years of Formula 1 engineering and design and one year of LEGO techniques and parts selection. It’s more accurate to say that the Williams now defines the Icons series as exactly that, a series, and it will push many who didn’t consider the McLaren into now outright purchasing it, given how fun and interesting the newer 10353 is to put together, and how we’ve gone from a single, one-off F1 car at this scale to the makings of a collection with two genuine icons spearheading it.
Our honest opinion: F1’s most storied cars and champions deserve specialist treatment from the LEGO Group, and that’s exactly where LEGO Icons steps in with such delightful creations as this. Long may this series continue.
This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.
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What are the main differences between LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell and 10330 McLaren MP4/4 & Ayrton Senna?
Belonging to the same LEGO Icons collection, there are a lot of similarities in build style and technique between 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell and 10330 McLaren MP4/4 & Ayrton Senna, with only a year between them in release date too. However, since the McLaren the LEGO Icons team has introduced wider rear wheel tyres and printed tyres to add an extra level of detail to the Williams. The Williams’ livery also naturally makes for a build that feels more varied in nature, even if the reality is that the McLaren is packed with as much detail.
How long does it take to build LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell?
LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell comes together in about an hour or so.
How many pieces are in LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell?
LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell comes with 799 pieces including for a minifigure of 1992 Formula 1 World Champion Nigel Mansell, moustache and all.
How big is LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell?
LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell comes in at 31cm long, 15cm wide and about 7cm tall.
How much does LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell cost?
LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell retails for £69.99 in the UK, $79.99 in the US, and from €79.99 in Europe.
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