Minichamps 1:43 Mercedes-AMG W12 – Lewis Hamilton, Winner Brazilian GP 2021 Art. 410212044

A 1:43 model of the Mercedes-AMG W12 E Performance as raced by Lewis Hamilton to victory at the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix, carrying the Brazilian flag on the car. Limited to 1,248 pieces worldwide. Diecast, black and green, with a display case.

Twentieth to fifth, then tenth to first

This is generally cited as the finest drive of Hamilton's career, and the reason is the arithmetic of the weekend rather than the race alone.

He qualified fastest on Friday and was disqualified — his rear wing failed a DRS gap test by a few millimetres. That put him last for Saturday's sprint race.

He finished the sprint fifth, having passed fifteen cars in twenty-four laps.

He then took a five-place grid penalty for a new engine, which put him tenth for the Grand Prix.

From tenth he reached second by lap eighteen, spent twenty laps behind Max Verstappen — including an attempted pass at turn four where both cars went off the circuit, an incident the stewards declined to investigate and which Mercedes protested — and finally passed him on lap fifty-nine. He won by ten seconds.

Twenty-five positions gained across two races in two days, in a car that had been fast all weekend and never allowed to start from where it deserved.

The flag

Interlagos is Ayrton Senna's home circuit. Hamilton has spoken about Senna as the reason he wanted to race, and after this win he took a Brazilian flag on his slowing-down lap — a gesture he had made before, and which the crowd at Interlagos returns in kind. The model carries the flag.

In the range

Sets 410211144, 410211544 and 410212144 are Hamilton's other 2021 victories.

Specifications

Scale: 1:43 · Limited to 1,248 pieces worldwide · Diecast · With Brazilian flag · Display case included · Age: 15+