McLaren Is Back on Top — and Built to Stay
- Sreeja Nallamala
- Oct 14
- 2 min read
By: Sreeja Nallamala
McLaren’s season has been pure dominance. After years of trying to climb back to the front, they’ve now secured back-to-back Constructors’ Championships, their tenth overall. All season, it hasn’t even felt close. McLaren has won 12 races this year, including seven 1-2 finishes, showing just how far ahead they are of the rest of the field.
Yet, there were moments when McLaren might have achieved even more. The Azerbaijan Grand Prix, in particular, highlighted just how unstoppable the team could have been. Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were in prime positions to challenge for the top spots, but misfortune struck: Piastri crashed in both qualifying and lap one, while Norris had to settle for a seventh-place finish. Without those setbacks, McLaren’s margin of dominance could have been even greater.
It’s hard to believe that less than a decade ago, McLaren was struggling just to make it out of the first qualifying session. When Zak Brown became CEO in 2016, the team was stuck in a failing partnership with Honda. They switched to Mercedes power units, rebuilt their structure, and started from the ground up. That long process has finally paid off.
Their first big breakthrough came in 2021, when McLaren won the Italian Grand Prix, their first victory in ten years. Since then, things have only improved. Under team principal Andrea Stella, who joined in 2023, McLaren has found a mix of calm leadership and strong technical direction. Former Red Bull designer, Rob Marshall, also played a major role in creating two of the fastest cars the sport has seen in years.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have been key to the team’s resurgence. Young, quick, and relentless, both drivers have elevated McLaren’s performance on and off the track. They’re now locked in a tight battle for the Drivers’ Championship. After Singapore, Piastri leads Norris by 22 points, with Max Verstappen trailing 63 points behind in third. The rivalry has stayed mostly respectful, and for McLaren, it’s a welcome sign of just how competitive they’ve become.
The team looks more united and confident than ever. Brown called the result “pretty awesome” and praised everyone at the factory and the track for their hard work. Stella described it as “an incredible emotion” to share the title with the entire team, calling the success “unbelievable” with six races still left in the season.
Both drivers are signed long term, with Norris under contract through 2027 and Piastri through 2028. This isn’t just a comeback story; it’s the beginning of a new era for McLaren.
Edited by: Megan Livengood