If you know me, you know that I love Formula 1. There is a mounting body of evidence, beginning with my bright purple Lewis Hamilton Mercedes ball cap. Not my style. Probably never gonna wear it. But I have one, and I am proud of it!

Two years ago I watched my first televised F1 race, the second to last race of the 2021 season – Saudi Arabia. It was my son’s idea. I confess that I was not too keen on the idea at the outset. Noisy sports on a rainy Sunday morning would not have been my first choice. My preferences lean more to soothing acoustic music and a good book. Yet, I reluctantly agreed, mostly to make him happy.

After experiencing the mounting anticipation of ‘lights out’, hearing the sudden roar of the engines, and watching the crazy high speed jockeying for position into the first corner, I was hooked. Frankly, it was one helluva an introductory race: multiple safety cars, two red flags and standing starts (which are not common).

Since then, I have watched every season of Drive to Survive. I belong to the F1 Slack channel at work and keep up with every post. I listen to F1 podcasts and I watch every race. I am not sooooo hooked that I watch every practice or qualifying, but I do watch the Sprints, which are a frequently debated aspect of the sport.

My husband and I attended the Montreal Grand Prix in 2022, where we were fortunate enough to have Paddock tickets. I chased drivers up and down the length of the Paddock to get photos of them all.

I took stealth pictures of Toto Wolff in the Mercedes hospitality suite.

At one point we snuck into the Red Bull Racing garage. And even though we were ejected minutes later for our “not as stealthy as we had hoped” move, it was impressive to be so close to those marvels of engineering.

The entire race day was an amazing experience and one I hope to repeat.

All of this leads me to… my very own F1 car. As designed by Lego.

Please indulge me for just one brief moment. I have often wondered about life as a Lego designer. Life-sized Lego sculptures are present at every video game show or event. This one in particular appealed to me.

Lego architecture kits used to be my go to, starting with Falling Waters by Frank Lloyd Wright. It took me 2 days to assemble.

Although I imagine this is primarily done by computers now, how much fun it would have been to be a Lego designer before computers were a thing?

In any case, this Lego kit was a Christmas gift from my amazing son who somehow always comes up with something creative that I will love. I am sure he wondered why I did not bust it open and assemble the car immediately. Well, I did have a turkey dinner to get out. I did not know what I was waiting for myself, but this week, while on a staycation in Ukee, out it came.

My very first step was to piece together my very own Lewis Hamilton to oversee the proceedings.

I did not want to rush. I savoured the experience for a couple of slow, peaceful hours, sipping ginger tea and painstakingly assembling hundreds of tiny bits of plastic.

At times I found that tweezers were a perfect aid – for those tiny single pieces and for attaching the stickers. At times I had to back up a few steps and start again, but overall I made steady forward progress.

Lewis assessing the side pods… would porpoising be a problem?

What tires would be right today? It was sunny but with light rain in the forecast – let’s go with the mediums.

Lewis, without a pit crew, is forced to change his own tires.

My finished work!

The Mercedes Lego kit also came with an AMG, which I will save for another day.

In the meantime – Lewis and his W13 are safely stationed on the mantelpiece in Ukee. All the better for me to admire my handiwork.