Minichamps 1:43 McLaren MCL35M – Lando Norris, French GP 2021 Art. 537215104

A 1:43 model of the McLaren MCL35M as raced by Lando Norris at the 2021 French Grand Prix, in papaya orange and blue. Resin, on a display base with a clear case and official McLaren packaging.

The season he stopped being a prospect

Norris scored points in the first nine races of 2021, took his first pole at Sochi, and finished sixth in the championship — ahead of his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, a seven-time Grand Prix winner, by 45 points.

That margin is the number that mattered. Ricciardo had arrived from Renault as the established name and the benchmark. He was comprehensively beaten by a 21-year-old in his third season, and never recovered his standing at McLaren; he was released a year early at the end of 2022.

Norris signed a long-term extension during that season instead, and McLaren built around him.

He finished third at the French Grand Prix's preceding round in Austria and fifth at Le Castellet. The pattern of 2021 was unspectacular consistency — he simply finished, ahead of most people, every week.

The MCL35M

The M is for Mercedes. McLaren changed engine supplier from Renault for 2021 and had to redesign the back of the car around a different power unit, under rules that otherwise froze development for the year.

The papaya and blue livery of this era is now the one most associated with the team's revival, and it is the colour scheme McLaren has kept since.

In the range

Set 537215904 is Norris's pole-position car from Sochi later that season — limited to 624 pieces.

Specifications

Scale: 1:43 · Resin · Display base, clear case, official McLaren packaging · Limited edition
Model length: approx. 10 cm