Coming to the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park isn’t a cheap excercise – the tickets alone would be enough to put some people off, but when you take the plunge and go all in you almost need to ignore all the prices around the track across the weekend.
But if you take your kids, they’re going to want something! It’s like going to the Easter Show and not getting a showbag!
Official F1 Team merchandise is amazing, but a hat will cost you $90 and a T-Shirt is triple digits. If you see poeple walking around in team jackets, trust me – they’ve put their savings into this one.
But then there’s a place where you can buy things from just $19.99. And I reckon that’s among, if not the cheapest F1 related thing you can buy at Albert Park.
And it’s a stroke of Genius from LEGO – they’ve kicked off a multi-year partnership with F1 in the most incredible style, Duplo, LEGO Cities, Speed Champions and Technics sets – and it doesn’t matter which team you support, they’ve got something.
There are people walking all around Albert Park with those iconic Yellow LEGO shopping bags, but get this – if you don’t want to take it with you, they will drop it off at your hotel, or even allow you to pick it up at your own local LEGO store.
The LEGO “Pit Shop” is setup like a fast food store with just LEGO on the menu!
Next to it is a hands on “Build and Take” activation with thousands of LEGO peices in F1 team colours setup to allow anyone to come in, build their own F1 car, then take a photo of it in a grid style photo setup and take it with them for free!
The queues are long, so if you’re heading to Albert Park, try this one early in the day!
LEGO Australia CEO Troy Taylor gave me a tour and talked about the origins of Lego as a hands on experience, noting that a man named John Peddie brought the first LEGO bricks to Australia and tried for a year to get Toy Stores to buy it – they felt it wouldn’t work because Aussie kids wanted to play outside.
Interestingly, given how our time is now stretched and busy, and we’re addicted to screens, it seems LEGO again is bringing kids out of their shells and back to play, on their own, with friends, or with family.
This Store and Experience setup at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix will also take place at another 14 Grands Prix this year as LEGO join the growing list of brands associating themselves with one of the most popular sports in the world.
Trev is a Technology Commentator, Dad, Speaker and Rev Head.
He produces and hosts two popular podcasts, EFTM and Two Blokes Talking Tech. He also appears on over 50 radio stations across Australia weekly, and is the resident Tech Expert on Channel 9’s Today Show each day and appears regularly on A Current Affair.
Father of three, he is often found down in his Man Cave.
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