The LEGO Group brought McLaren helmet designer Miles Murphy to Silverstone to share the secrets behind his work on the LEGO Formula One helmets that celebrate McLaren’s 1,000th race in Monaco.
In the world of Formula One, a helmet is far more than a vital piece of safety gear, it is a high-speed canvas for personal expression and a cornerstone of a driver’s brand identity.
At the historic Silverstone circuit, Miles Murphy, the creative mastermind behind MDM Designs, shared insights into the artistry that adorns the grid. As the design partner for George Russell for over a decade and a close collaborator with (amongst others) McLaren’s driver line-up, Miles bridges the gap between engineering and visual storytelling.
While his presentation touched on the technical demands of professional racing lids, the centrepiece was the fascinating two-year journey required to bring two special LEGO Editions F1 helmets to both the brick and the track.
The Design Philosophy
The creative process is rarely linear. It typically begins with raw, hand-drawn concepts that can evolve through countless iterations between the designer, driver, sponsors and team to ensure the final product resonates with the driver’s personality.
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When crafting designs for drivers like George Russell or Oscar Piastri, Murphy must master a complex balancing act – adhering to strict FIA safety regulations, respecting sponsor-mandated exclusion zones, and ensuring the graphics remain sharp and legible even at high speeds.
For Russell’s helmet, the process began with Mercedes giving the sponsor logos to Miles and explaining where they should go. “’Between that, the world’s your oyster,’” Miles recalled. “We asked George, ‘for this year, what do you want to do?’ He said to us, ‘I want to keep my blue, I want something that’s a bit more artistic and stands out, like a porcelain style art piece on my head.”
The LEGO Collaboration
Miles worked on an ambitious project in utmost secrecy, working with the LEGO Group to create helmet designs that would be released as Editions sets but also be used for real driver helmets at the Grands Prix in Monaco, McLaren’s 1,000th race.
It was an undertaking that required two years of meticulous development. The objective was clear: “to make something that would combine LEGO and F1 in the most authentic way possible.”
Driven by F1’s surging global popularity and its expanding partnership with the LEGO Group, which memorably made headlines with the Miami LEGO F1 race and British Grand Prix trophies, Miles collaborated with the designers in Demark on the project.
“There’s a lot more factors involved than just doing the helmet,” he explains. “The social aspect, the marketing aspect, it all blends together to what basically make it what it needs to be.”
The two sets, 43017 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team Oscar Piastri Helmet and 43023 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team Lando Norris Helmet, added additional complexity to the design process.
“When were first asked to do it, they sent over the actual pieced up together plan [for the models],” says Miles. “We had to work out how to put the design in there, one, where it was possible to make [it out of LEGO elements], and two, basically in a form where it could be pieced together.
“That was all done, and then originally I don’t think they were going to do the full scale helmets – I think actually it might have been my fault for suggesting it – but they came out quite good. So they asked, ‘how do we take this colourway and put it on a real one making it look like actual LEGO bricks?’ and luckily we managed to pull it off.”
The design had to strike a delicate chord, offering enough intricate detail to be rewarding for adult builders without becoming prohibitively complex for younger enthusiasts. A highlight of the project was the direct involvement of the drivers themselves, who curated the appearance of their own LEGO minifigures, adding a final layer of individual flair to the partnership.
The partnership came to realisation at the Monaco Grand Prix, where the McLaren drivers wore these LEGO brick themed helmets to celebrate the milestone 1,000th race. This wasn’t just a simple paint job: working in close partnership with the specialists at Bell Helmets, the MDM design team meticulously engineered every stud pattern, plate separation and texture to mirror the LEGO aesthetic. The result was a fantastic combination of bricks and elite motorsport engineering.
Lessons in Creativity
The session wraps up with powerful encouragement for aspiring creators: there is no right or wrong in the realm of design.
“The best advice I always give is to do what you think is right,” Miles shares. Whether a designer is working on a samurai-inspired tribute or a playful collaboration with the LEGO Group, the most compelling results emerge from staying true to a unique, personal vision.
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