Lego lady!
Motorsport maverick Faten Amin, the first Bahraini woman in a host of top organising roles in the sport, has taken her journey off-road with her collection of unique Lego F1 sets.
The 39-year-old Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) digital content executive is blending her love for the sport with her relatively recent hobby of Lego set-building.
'I have 66 sets so far, but not all of them are built – about 14 to 15 sets are not built yet,' she told GulfWeekly during the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix held at the BIC in mid-April.
'I like to have a collection, rather than having one or two sets, and Lego kept bringing out more sets, so my hobby just keep on growing.'
But Faten is more than just a collector. She's created a unique niche for herself by documenting her Lego builds through ASMR-style videos on TikTok, capturing the satisfying clicks of each piece coming together.
'When I build the sets, I do a video where it's music-free to keep the focus on the ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) click, making sure that it is very clear,' she added.
Last year, Faten made history as the first Bahraini woman to serve as Clerk Of the Course (COC) for the FIA Formula 3 Championship during the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix.
This year, in addition to her duties at the BIC, she had a dual role for the support races happening during the race weekend – deputy COC for the Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East and chief communications for F2.
However, she was able to make time to stock up on new Lego sets, one of which she even got signed by the Ferrari duo of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
'Ever since I was young, I was always fascinated by Lego but I never had the time or budget for it,' she reminisced.
'However, that changed in 2019, when my husband bought me a Lego Movie Maker set because I do stop motion videos. The set could actually help me do stop motion with Lego, and it teaches you everything.
'He saw the set and knew it was perfect for me. Ever since then, I just kept on buying the sets that I wanted, like the Friends set, the McLaren, and it just grew.'
The first set that she worked on was a small speed champion car, which she completed in about 90 minutes.
Up next was the 2022 McLaren F1 car, which took her about 10 hours.
What started as a casual interest quickly transformed into a serious collection, with Faten now boasting an impressive collection spanning diverse themes, from F1 racing sets to botanical collections featuring delicate roses and tulips.
'When I'm building these sets, I can meditate with no thoughts at all,' she explained. 'It just clears the mind. That's what I like. I like to sit and clear my mind out of everything from life. That's why I enjoy building it. It's like my yoga session with building Legos.'
Her most challenging build to date was the Ferrari Daytona set, a 24-hour project she completed just a few days before giving birth – something that didn't even hold her F1 organising ambitions, as she served as the COC last year while pregnant.
A veteran marshal since 2005, Faten has been a pivotal figure in Bahrain's racing community.
Last year, she made history by becoming the first female Clerk of the Course for Formula Three – a remarkable achievement she accomplished while eight months pregnant.
Her collection reflects her motorsports passion, with numerous F1 and racing-themed Lego sets taking pride of place in her home.
She even treasures a small piece of carbon fiber from an F2 wing – a memento from her early marshalling days.
'I've always been passionate about motorsports,' Amin explains.
'From watching NASCAR as a child to marshalling at local races, it's been a lifelong love.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Tribune
a day ago
- Daily Tribune
Brad Pitt needs to ‘try and be calm' on the road
Bang Showbiz | Los Angeles Brad Pitt has admitted he needs to 'chill' while driving. The Hollywood star - who plays racer Sonny Hayes in new blockbuster F1 - got to speed around racetracks for the movie, but he acknowledged he should learn to slow down when he's out and about. Noting he is 'trying to be calm in traffic', Brad told Extra: 'I'm one of those that feels like I'm always on the racetrack and I need to, like, chill. 'I just need to chill. So that's this year, just trying to chill. Enjoy the sights, don't sweat the traffic. 'I'm not doing very well, by the way.' The 61-year-old actor's character in the movie is a retired driver making his return to the sport, and Brad has seen parallels with the film world. He said: 'It's nice... It's a funny thing because I see the new generations coming in and it's really exciting what they're doing, and the movies are about a place in time, in our time, and they reflect our time… 'I really enjoy it, but I so enjoy what other people are doing, so it's less of a hunt and more of an appreciation, you know, as the natural evolution happens.' Brad recently opened up about having to learn from his mistakes, as he appeared to reflect on lessons learned following his divorce from Angelina Jolie. He told Entertainment Tonight: 'o matter the mistake, you know, you just learn from (it) and move on.' Brad added about making an error: 'It'll lead to the next success.' The A-lister and and Angelina concluded their divorce in December 2024, more than eight years after the actress, 50, first filed to dissolve their marriage in September 2016. The couple, who starred together in Mr and Mrs Smith, share six children – Maddox, 23, Pax, 21, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 19, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 16. Speaking about what keeps him grounded at this point in life, Brad said: 'At this age, you see how important it is to surround yourself with the people you know, the people you love, the people that love you back.'
Daily Tribune
a day ago
- Daily Tribune
Blades from Bahrain Captivate the World
TDT| Manama Bahrain's centuries-old tradition of sword and dagger craftsmanship took centre stage at one of the world's most iconic museums this week, as the Kingdom unveiled a cultural exhibition at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, spotlighting its rich artisanal heritage before a global audience. Hosted on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) 2025, the exhibition titled 'From Bahrain's Heritage: The Art of Sword and Dagger Making' presented intricately handcrafted Bahraini blades by Depaj Factory, a showcase of heritage deeply rooted in symbolism, strength, and identity.
Biz Bahrain
a day ago
- Biz Bahrain
Formula 1 launches new personalised mobile app and website
Formula 1® has relaunched its mobile app and website to make them easier to navigate and to allow fans to personalise their experience, accessing all the information and content they want more quickly and in a way that suits them. Within the innovative, updated F1 mobile app, fans can now curate their experience by selecting multiple drivers and teams for detailed tracking during sessions, as well as following their overall performance across the season. The redesigned homepage promotes both short-form and long-form video content and introduces new formats such as mobile-first stories and vertical video, which provide a more modern and familiar user experience and integrate best practices from across social platforms and digital entertainment products. Both redesigned platforms will also showcase content from F1 TV for fans who want to watch premium live and on-demand action, as well as key telemetry and data points from the embedded Live Timing subscription service. The ultimate F1 companions, the app and website were tested with the fan-base throughout the development, ensuring their requests were prioritised alongside all of the other enhancements. Accessibility was an important element, with video overlays enabling fans to watch content with or without sound, while the adaptive font-sizes and dark/light modes ensure content is available to the widest possible audience. The app and website changes initially focus on improved content discovery across breaking news, race and technical analysis, location guides, along with the much-loved Fantasy and Predict games, where fans can test their knowledge against each other. Future phases are now planned for the addition of a wider range of exciting content themes, as well as an enhanced F1 Unlocked membership offering. Visit and download the app from the iOS or Android stores.
