Formula 1 diecast models

Motorsport collecting settled on 1:43 in the 1960s, when the first serious model ranges were made in that size to match the model railway O gauge, and it has never moved. The reason it stuck is practical: a modern Formula 1 car is 5.6 m long, so at 1:43 it is about 13 cm including the wing and nose. Twenty cars, the whole grid, fit on a single 120 cm shelf. At 1:18 the same grid would need three metres.

The scale also suits the subject. A Formula 1 car has no doors or boot to open, so a sealed body loses nothing. What matters is the silhouette, the livery and the small aero details, and 1:43 is large enough to get those right while remaining affordable enough to buy every season.

Bburago holds licences from the teams whose cars it produces. In practical terms that means the model is built from the team's own CAD data, so the wheelbase, the sidepod shape and the wing planes are correct rather than approximated from photographs. It also means the sponsor logos are the real ones, placed where they sit on the actual car, and the driver's number and helmet design are reproduced under licence.

Each car comes in a windowed display box with a black plinth and a small nameplate carrying the season, driver and car. The plinth has two screw points; leave them in place and the car cannot slide. The boxes are consistent in size across the range, which is why a collection of them looks tidy in a row.

The tub and engine cover are die-cast metal, painted and then printed with the livery in multiple tampo passes; the Red Bull, for example, needs eight separate colour passes to build up the bull, the sponsor marks and the number. The front and rear wings are plastic, because metal that thin would bend, and they are glued at the mounts. Suspension arms are separate plastic parts, the Halo is a separate moulding, and the wheels carry printed tyre markings. Mirrors and the T-cam on the airbox are the fragile parts, and they are why the car arrives screwed to its plinth.

People search for an F1 toy car and arrive here, so it is worth being clear. The Bburago 1:43 cars on this page are collector's models: sealed bodies, fragile wings and mirrors, screwed to a plinth in a windowed box. They are the right thing for a fan of any age who wants the real 2024 car on a shelf. If you want an F1 toy car that can be driven, the Rastar licensed remote control cars in 1:18 are in the RC collection: Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari replicas with a proportional controller, about 31 cm long, and sturdy enough for a child of eight.

We currently stock Verstappen's RB20, Hamilton's W15, Leclerc's SF-24, Gasly's A524, and both McLaren MCL38s including Norris's Senna tribute livery from Monaco. Hamilton's 2023 W14 is also here. The sensible order is to start with the car you support and then buy its rival, because the pairing is what makes a shelf interesting. Restocks and new releases go to the alert list first; the Senna tribute sold out within days of arriving.

Keep them in the box or on the plinth. Out of the box the car sits on four small contact patches and the front wing endplates are millimetres from the shelf. Line the boxes up with the nameplates facing out, or if you prefer the cars unboxed, use a stepped acrylic riser so the rear rows are visible. Dust with a brush, never a cloth: a cloth will snag the mirrors and the T-cam.