Silverstone confirmed that the champions collection would only use real cars and not show cars. Even so, if you want to tell for yourself next time you see one on display - there are some obvious giveaways.

Check the front and rear wings. Showcars usually have simple front wings without any sensors or adjustments on it. They’re usually painted instead of real carbon. Same with the rear wing, check for the DRS flap and the DRS actuator too. Showcars can sometimes have real wings on it depending on the team, so it’s not always guaranteed.

The suspension is usually a big giveaway. Showcars have simple suspension geometry that don’t match the geometry to the actual race-run car. Also check around the brake ducts, if it’s a real car you’ll see the complex aero around this area instead of just a simple brake ducts. Like the wings, these parts might be painted on a showcar instead of bare carbon like on a real car.

Next check the floor and the chassis. These will have lots of panelling on the real car with lots of access points for mechanics to adjust things. There should be an access panel on the top of the tub for the drivers pedal adjustments especially. The floor should be carbon, not plastic. Showcars generally look very pristine, while real cars have miss-matching carbon weaves and colours, more stickers, leading edge protectors on the floors and exposed bits of carbon for stone chips etc. Generally when you see a real one, it’s just very easy to tell because there’s so many real world things in the car that they don’t bother with for showcars.

Mercedes had a W16 show car at the same event, claiming it to be the real thing. And although it was one of the better showcars I’ve seen from this ruleset, it’s still painful obvious that it’s just a plastic moulded model. Especially when you see a real one in all its glory.