First look: Hot Wheels Premium Formula 1 cars are here at last

Hot Wheels has a long history in Formula 1 replicas, but nothing licensed has been released in the classic, three-inch size for about 20 years. That all changed this year with the arrival of the generic ‘Formula 1 Collection’ casting in the mainline – painted loosely in the colours of eight different teams across individual releases and a five-pack – and now with the debut of the first Premium models.

I ordered a few of the Premiums when they were briefly offered through Mattel Creations earlier this year. The first to show – mirroring their release in stores – are the Alpine and the Haas. I only bought one version/driver of each, from the two available, and did not buy either of the two Red Bulls from the same batch.

You’ve probably read enough of my articles to know that I have a big race car collection, especially of F1 cars – everything from Hot Wheels to Corgi, Kyosho, Polistil, Matchbox, Aoshima, Mini GT, Tarmac Works and more.

Given the recent resurgence in premium 1:64 F1 models, I was particularly interested to see how the new Hot Wheels castings matched up to the costlier Mini GT, Spark and IXO x Tarmac Works offerings. Let’s take a look!

(find Hot Wheels F1 on eBay)

Both of the new Hot Wheels additions represent 2024 race cars. My Alpine A524 is the Esteban Ocon #31 while the Haas VF-24 is Nico Hülkenberg’s #27.

I think the packaging is a good compromise between a standard, cost-conscious Hot Wheels blister and a typical premium, crystal-case effort. The plaques will make it easy to slot them into displays with other premium F1 models. Personally, I open just about everything, so as long as the blister protects the model from transit damage, I’m OK with it.

First impressions of the models themselves are good. Some of the modern premium F1 replicas make extensive use of plastic and are consequently featherlight, but these predominantly metal models are satisfyingly heavy by comparison. Hot Wheels has cleverly sandwiched a plastic moulding for the intricate floor piece between the layers of metal that form the body, chassis and front wing.

The choice of material means you lose the last few percent of detail, especially at the rear of the car, but overall, it works very well. Note that these are not generic castings with intricate paint schemes: on these two designs, for example, there are clear differences in the sculpting of the sidepods, engine cover, nose and rear wing.

Looking closely at these side views, you can see how the part breaks are adjusted to suit the different bodywork profiles.

My biggest reservation about these models before receiving them was the use of the digital inkjet printing process for the complex graphics. Many collectors, myself included, are fed up with the fuzzy decos on Hot Wheels Premium models from the past couple of years. How was this going to work out on the F1 cars?

The answer is a mixed bag. On the plus side, it’s not as bad as I feared. The Haas, in particular, looks great from any perspective bar the most extreme of close-ups. Even then, it’s not terrible, even if the colours lack the solidity – and the writing/logos the crispness – that a tampo or decal can provide. As such, the printing is sharper on the generic mainline F1 cars.

The execution on the Alpine is less successful. We’ve seen how areas of solid colour fare badly when printed using the digital inkjet process – the pixelated-grey attempts at silver, for example. Here on Ocon’s Alpine, the pink and blue areas aren’t anywhere near as bright or as sharp as you’d want them to be. I wonder whether printing the colours on a black background only makes life more difficult.

In a Lamley video shot earlier this year, Hot Wheels designer Rob Matthes said that this printing process was chosen to give “fantastic detail” to the decos. I can imagine that applying decos to the intricate shapes of an F1 car must be a time-consuming and therefore costly process. If this was the only way to make these models work at an acceptable Hot Wheels Premium price point, then I guess it’s a trade-off worth having. But F1 enthusiasts looking for those last few percent of detail will likely continue to pony up for Mini GT, Spark and the rest, in my opinion.

Looking at the Hot Wheels alongside models from other brands in the picture above, it’s clear that the printing is not as sharp – the red Mini GT Alfa Romeo, in particular, has insanely good graphics, including the carbon-fibre weave. There’s noticeably less detail in the Alpine’s metal front wing, too. But I also think this shot shows that Hot Wheels has got pretty close to the premium brands in a number of areas – proportions, inclusion of a helmeted driver, and tire-and-wheel size and shape, for example.

Ultimately, I don’t think it’s a case of one model being ‘better’ than another. Each has their market. Hot Wheels collectors will love these new F1 cars and as someone who was once a motorsport-mad kid buying toy F1 cars, I think it’s great that these very realistic new models are on the pegs at regular big-box stores, at a price young race fans (and their parents) can also afford.

Happy collecting!

(find Hot Wheels F1 on eBay)

(Know a young race fan? Check out my children’s book, 20 Great Race Cars)

(follow me on Instagram @diecast215)