F1 drivers beach LEGO karts in Silverstone gravel during chaotic British GP parade

Several Formula 1 drivers found themselves beached in Silverstone’s gravel traps during the British Grand Prix pre-race parade on Sunday, after the grid was handed custom-built, driveable LEGO karts for the traditional lap of the circuit. The brick-built machines, capable of a top speed of just 25 km/h, proved both too slow and too unwieldy for a number of competitors.

With the karts struggling for pace, multiple drivers attempted to cut corners to gain ground on their rivals — only to become stuck in the gravel and require marshal assistance to be retrieved. The FIA president was also reported among those who beached a kart, adding to the widespread carnage.

Carlos Sainz was among the drivers who abandoned his stranded kart entirely, instead jumping onto the side of Lando Norris’s vehicle to complete the remainder of the lap — a moment that quickly became one of the most-shared images from the event.

Footage of the parade had accumulated 1.2 million views and more than 28,000 likes on X by the time of writing, with fans broadly delighted by the spectacle. “LEGO cars saw the gravel and said, ‘we’re proper F1 now.’ Absolute chaos, love it!” one user wrote. Another called it the “best Drivers’ Parade in years purely for the chaos.”

Some fans used the moment to make a broader point about F1’s perennial debate over equal machinery. “For everybody who wants to see the drivers compete in equal machinery… this is what you get!” one comment read.

Others were already lobbying for more. “Please, can we have a LEGO Drivers’ Championship and have a race each race weekend?” one fan suggested — a proposal that, given the reaction online, may not be entirely unwelcome in the paddock.