Expanding on their 2024 licensing deal, Formula 1 and The LEGO Group are tuning up a new play to get more girls into the motorsport. 

Starting next year, LEGO is joining the F1 Academy race track—the league’s all-female racing championship. Dutch driver Esmee Kosterman (pictured) will pilot a LEGO-sponsored car, which sports decals and colors inspired by the toyco’s iconic bricks. 

LEGO will also manufacture and distribute a new 201-piece construction set replica of Kosterman’s vehicle to retailers worldwide in March, opening up what could be a gateway for getting young girl builders into the high-octane sport. The toyco definitely sees market demand for this kind of move, highlighting in a recent report that 75% of girls worldwide think racing sounds exciting, and more than half could see themselves as a race car driver. 

Formula One Group launched F1 Academy in 2023 as a way to help young female drivers develop and prepare for higher-level competitions in the sport. According to the racing org, 23% of F1’s global audience, and 42% of its female fans, already follow the Academy league, which holds 14 races per year. Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine also recently turned up the spotlight on this part of the sport by producing a seven-part F1 Academy docuseries chronicling the 2024 season. Netflix launched the spinoff in May.