Lego returns to F1 driver parade with minicars

Lego have done it again. Following the success of last year's Miami Grand Prix drivers' parade -- when Formula 1 drivers were let loose in 10 full-size Lego F1 cars -- the world's favourite brick maker is promising more fun and chaos ahead of Sunday's British Grand Prix.

Listening to fans after Miami -- and the uncontrollable laughter of the drivers as they smashed pieces off each other's cars -- Lego's master builders have constructed smaller, faster, nimbler 'minicars' for Silverstone's driver parade on Sunday.

Last year's two-seaters, which saw teammates sit one behind the other in a shared car made of Lego, have been replaced by 22 individual go-karts (one for each driver), complete with electric motors, plastic bumpers and roll-hoops.

To steal a phrase from Sonny Hayes in the F1 Movie, Lego have built minicars for combat.

"We learned many lessons in Miami last year," Lego senior designer Jonathan Jurion told ESPN. "Mainly that the cars will get smashed...

"So we've taken measures to make the go-karts as safe as possible. We've added some safety features like the roll-hoop, some fenders and bumpers around so that we don't lose as many bricks as we lost last time.

"And also to make the drivers as safe as possible."

Each minicar has been constructed from over 28,300 bricks by a team of 20 designers, engineers and builders at Lego's factory in Kladno, Czechia.

Built on top of a specially designed steel structure, the bricks are arranged to reflect the individual liveries and logos of F1's 11 teams.

The development and construction of all 22 minicars took 6,400 combined hours and the final products will tip the scales at 280kg -- 65kg of which will be Lego bricks.

The karts are capable of a top speed of just under 18 mph, which is up from the 13 mph reached by the larger-scale builds in Miami.

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If the trail of destruction left by Lego's last driver parade appearance is anything to go by, the relatively modest speed of the minicars will be more than enough for the world's 22 top drivers to cause even more carnage.

"We've looked at how drivers enjoyed the driver's parade in Miami," Jurion added. "We looked at their reactions, we looked at the reactions of the fans and the feedback from fans coming back.

"We were really thrilled with how that turned out, so we hope that this time it won't be different."

The drivers' parade is scheduled to take place at 1 p.m. local time at Silverstone and will be broadcast live on F1's YouTube channel.