At Singapore’s glittering Marina Bay Street Circuit, under lights that have witnessed their fair share of drama, McLaren secured their 10th Constructors’ Championship, sealing the deal with a record-equalling six rounds still to go. The celebrations were just as sweet as last year’s 2024 title, but the path to glory this time looked very different.
What To Know?
- McLaren secure 10th Constructors’ title, six races early
- First title defence since 1991, 12 wins from 15 races
- Now second all-time behind Ferrari’s 16 team titles
In 2024, the Woking-based team broke a decades-long drought to return to the summit for the first time since 1998, defeating Ferrari in a nail-biting finale in Abu Dhabi. That triumph was a revival story, a long-awaited restoration of papya to the top step of Formula One. But in 2025, McLaren’s story was not about resurgence, it was about dominance.
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The numbers tell the tale: 12 wins in the first 15 races, seven 1-2 finishes, and a title clinched so early it felt preordained. For the first time since 1991, McLaren successfully defended a constructors’ title. The balance of power shifted. McLaren now sat above Williams on the all-time list, with only Ferrari’s 16 team crowns left to chase.
A Surprise Last Year, a Mission This Year
Team principal Andrea Stella summed up the contrast perfectly:
“Last year, the championship came as a surprise, much earlier than expected in terms of the trajectory of the team. Only in Miami (round six in May) we could take the first victory… and at the end, it was a great surprise and a great joy.
This year, we realised relatively soon that the car was very competitive, that we were in condition to win races. So it was more about keeping the concentration, keeping the focus, maximising the potential available.”
From their ninth-place struggles in 2017 to back-to-back championships in 2025, McLaren’s climb has been one of the most remarkable modern turnarounds in F1 history.
By the time the team arrived in Singapore, they held a 333-point lead over nearest rivals Mercedes, needing only 13 points to make the title mathematically certain. The writing had been on the wall for months. As George Russell bluntly put it back in March, “Their car is definitely capable of winning every race, and their car should win every race.”
And he wasn’t wrong.
A Championship Inevitable
McLaren could have clinched the crown one round earlier in Azerbaijan, outperforming Red Bull’s record-breaking 2023 campaign, but fate threw in a small delay. Oscar Piastri crashed out, and Lando Norris finished only seventh a rare blemish in an otherwise imperious season.
The inevitable was merely postponed. Under the Singapore lights, Norris’s third-place finish and Piastri’s fourth erased the last sliver of uncertainty.
For McLaren fans, the comparison to the team’s historic 1998 season was impossible to ignore. Then it was Mika Häkkinen who sealed both titles. Now, 27 years later, it’s Norris and Piastri leading the charge, two drivers as consistent as they are fast.
Unlike last season, when Max Verstappen secured his fourth straight Drivers’ crown, this year McLaren looked poised to take both championships for the first time since Häkkinen’s glory days.
The last time a McLaren driver won the individual title was Lewis Hamilton in 2008, though that year Ferrari walked away with the constructors’ trophy. Ironically, Hamilton now drives for the Scuderia he once defeated.
The Norris and Piastri Partnership
Before the Singapore weekend began, Lando Norris reflected on the season’s recipe for success:
“You obviously need the best car. I think we’ve had that for 95% of the races. I think there are plenty of other teams with two great drivers, but I kind of hate saying it, not ones who have delivered every weekend as often as Oscar and myself have done.
It’s also easier for us to deliver because we’re ahead of the field a lot of the time. So in some ways, we have an easier job than some others.
But as a constructor, you need two drivers who deliver every weekend, who finish most races. And that’s what we’ve been able to do.”
That reliability, two drivers pushing, scoring, and finishing, has been McLaren’s secret weapon.
A Season of Stability
Where rivals have been reshuffled, McLaren stayed steady. Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari all faced driver or leadership changes, including a new boss at Verstappen’s camp. McLaren’s continuity has paid off handsomely.
From the first race in Melbourne, where Norris led a one-two in qualifying and victory, the signs were clear. Had Piastri not run wide that day, McLaren might have secured this title even earlier.
By August, Norris added another milestone, McLaren’s 200th Formula One victory, taken at the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix, cementing the team’s place in history.
A Legacy Extended
With this triumph, McLaren moved past Williams on the all-time Constructors’ list, securing their place as the second most successful team in Formula One history, behind only Ferrari.
As the sport stands on the brink of a new engine era in 2026, McLaren entered as the benchmark once more, not just chasing Ferrari’s records, but defining the next chapter of Formula One dominance.
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