Aren’t we the lucky ones? Life as a 1:64 Formula 1 collector has changed rapidly, from barely a sniff of a contemporary F1 car just a few years ago, to a plethora of offerings now available from Hot Wheels, Mini GT/BBR, Spark, Tarmac Works and now, Bburago.
(find Bburago 1:64 F1 on eBay)
Bburago has been big into mass-market 1:43 and 1:24-scale F1 cars in recent years – and I even had a 1:24 Bburago F1 Williams as a child in the 1980s. But to the best of my knowledge, these might be the May Cheong/Maisto-owned brand’s first foray into 1:64-scale F1 since the slightly crude Red Bull RB9s of more than a decade ago. I’d seen the new models advertised on Ali Express but didn’t immediately pull the trigger, which proved to be a great move as a week or two later, shippers appeared at my local Walmart.
The text on the back of the blister cards would suggest that these are only at Canadian Walmarts, but aside from the online option, other channels are available around the world, for example E.Leclerc supermarkets in France. Look for your local Bburago/Maisto stockist and you likely won’t go wrong.
The range extends to both 2025 team cars from Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull. But with quite a few recent F1 cars in hand and limited space in the F1 display cabinet, I limited myself to buying Lando Norris’s title-winning McLaren MCL39 and Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari SF-25. Let’s take a look.
First of all, the cars are all-plastic, so they weigh almost nothing. If you like models with heft, look elsewhere – to the all-metal Hot Wheels, or perhaps the metal-plastic hybrids of Mini GT. But the plastic doesn’t bother me particularly: partly because it allows for some well-detailed shapes, and partly because at C$9, these are a buck cheaper than the Hot Wheels and much cheaper than the premium brands. They roll fantastically, too.
The detail shapes of the respective cars are not quite at BBR/Mini GT levels, but are well-captured, and the livery printing makes a mockery of Hot Wheels’ fuzzy efforts. It’s particularly cool to get a bright orange hue to the McLaren, when other brands’ attempts are usually way too dull. In truth, it’s a little too bright – much brighter than it looks in these photos. It certainly stands out.
I think the Hamilton Ferrari gets it right, though: last year’s car was a noticeably darker red than in previous seasons, and this is reflected on the Bburago. Also present: the blue HP logo that looks completely wrong on an F1 Ferrari, in my opinion (unless you put it on the blue-and-white, NART-liveried car of late-1964!).
If you can get past the all-plastic construction, there are lots of positives to this new line of 1:64 F1 models. Downsides? There are no driver figures in the cockpits, even if they appear prominently on the nicely formed packaging. And, of course, if you’re looking for teams beyond the big four, you’re out of luck, at least for now. No surprise there – I can’t imagine that Hot Wheels’ versions of the Racing Bulls or Alpines were snapped up as quickly as its Red Bulls and Mercedes, for example.
Indeed, Bburago’s licensing appears to be with individual teams, rather than with F1 itself, which is not mentioned on the packaging for this ‘Formula Racing’ series.
I won’t waffle on any further, but if you’ve picked up any of these new Bburago models, please let me know what you think in the comments, below. Happy collecting!
(find Bburago 1:64 F1 on eBay)
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