McLaren End of Year Report: A circuitous route to both championships
- Peter Johnson
- 5 hours ago
- 7 min read
Written by Peter Johnson, Edited by Benjamin Crundwell
With another year of Formula One action in the books, our writers review each F1 team’s 2025 campaign and assess their performance across the season. McLaren made it difficult for themselves at times, but the papaya team completed the World Championship double in 2025 after a record-breaking season. Here’s their end of year report.
Often in the final year of a regulation set, we see multiple teams right at the sharp end and an intra-team squabble for either or both of the Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championships, as development slows and the grid converges.
See Lewis Hamilton vs Max Verstappen or Mercedes vs Red Bull in 2021, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso vs Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel in 2012 and Hamilton and McLaren vs Felipe Massa and Ferrari in 2008 as historic cases in point.
Heading into the final season of the latest era of Formula One, observers anticipated an almost unprecedented four-way fight between teams and possibly, by extension, up to eight drivers in contention for the drivers’ title.
It became clear from very early in proceedings, however, that reigning Constructors’ Champions McLaren were overwhelming favourites for both crowns, given both the MCL39 raw pace and versatility across a range of circuits.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked out the front row at the Australian Grand Prix, almost half a second clear of closest challenger Verstappen. It was obvious from lights out in Melbourne that the team in papaya would be the one to beat.
However, it became apparent equally quickly that the team’s biggest downfall may well be the inconsistency of its drivers.
Piastri’s mistake at his soaking wet curtain-raising home race denied him a certain P2 and cost him 16 points straight off the bat, while Norris’ disappointing sprint race in China and crash during qualifying in Jeddah proved he too was fallible.
Both soon began pumping in consistent podiums though, with Norris’ crash in Canada and Piastri’s costly penalty at Silverstone constituting increasingly rare blemishes in the middle part of the season.
As the only team with two drivers consistently at the sharp end of the field, the team from Woking sprinted off into the distance in the teams’ standings. An inevitable Constructors’ Championship title was wrapped up by the Singapore Grand Prix, with six races remaining.
It marked the first time since 1991, when the team won four titles in a row, that McLaren had successfully defended its crown.
Still uncertain, though, was whether the team would celebrate its first Drivers’ World Champion since Hamilton in 2008.
Ultimately it was Norris, whose surge of results in the United States, Mexico and Brazil was enough to see off a charging Verstappen and become World Champion.
Drivers’ Head-to-Head Performance
Norris dealt a key early blow to Piastri with victory at the season opener in Melbourne, but the Australian strung together a run of six consecutive podiums, including four wins, to earn a commanding position in the championship before the Canadian Grand Prix.
Here, the teammates experienced their first major drama of the season, as Norris ran into the back of Piastri while attempting a move for fourth place. The Briton retired on the spot, while Piastri extended his championship lead to 22 points.
Norris rebounded well from his embarrassing error, winning three of the next four races, even if Piastri was arguably unfortunate to be penalised at Silverstone which resulted in a 14-point swing.
The Briton’s resurgence was halted in what seemed like potentially terminal fashion at the end of August, when a mechanical issue forced him to retire from second place. Piastri, who had been leading throughout, continued to take the chequered flag and extended his lead to 34 points.
Verstappen, meanwhile, who had been 104 points adrift of Oscar Piastri after Zandvoort, began to creep back into the picture, with ten podiums in the last ten races resulting in him coming within two points of the title.
Had Piastri not returned second place to Norris at the Italian Grand Prix, returning a net three points that the Briton would have lost due to his slow pit stop, the Dutchman would have defended his crown by a solitary point.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix in September proved to be a low point for the team, as the Australian made three mistakes in four corners across qualifying and the start of Sunday’s race to leave Baku empty-handed. Norris, car still intact, failed to make significant inroads and could only muster a seventh place.
Retirement in Azerbaijan marked the start of a six-race podiumless run for Piastri. The pair wrapped the constructors’ title up for McLaren in Singapore, but there was little to smile about for the Australian. After the Mexican Grand Prix, which Norris won by 30 seconds, Piastri yielded the championship lead that he had held since April, not to recover it.
Norris also took maximum points in São Paolo, a weekend that saw the Australian crash out of Saturday’s sprint race.
Disqualification for the pair in Vegas due to excessive plank wear meant that although Norris could have won the title next time out in Qatar, it was far less of a formality, while Piastri’s hopes of a championship were all but dashed.
Piastri’s last realistic sliver of a hope at the title was lost when McLaren’s pit stop strategy cost him an almost certain race victory in Qatar, while Norris was slightly off the pace all weekend and never really threatened to seal the title at his first match point.
Heading into Abu Dhabi, 16 points separated the pair in papaya, although Verstappen stood in between and Piastri’s role as a possible sacrificial lamb rendered him pretty much out of contention. Norris did what he had to do - no more, no less - to wrap up his maiden crown.
Best Moments
The majority of Oscar Piastri’s best moments were concentrated at the front end of the season and his five victories in the opening ten races provide plenty of good moments to choose from.
His best weekend performance, though, was arguably the Qatar Grand Prix weekend, when he delivered a near-perfect weekend with a championship on the line after going missing for three months.
Unfortunately, his team could not keep up their end of the bargain so he did not earn the victory to match, but it was a statement performance that reminded everyone that the Australian is a future champ.
Norris’ best moment is easier to pinpoint. Upon crossing the finish line in third place in Abu Dhabi, the man from Bristol became F1’s 35th World Champion and the 11th from the United Kingdom.
In terms of moments that got him there, Norris responded well to his embarrassing retirement in Canada in tremendous fashion. Often questioned for his ability to perform under pressure, in the moment he was under maximum scrutiny he responded with three wins in four races to remind everybody that the title race was still alive. Indeed, it was.
Worst Moments
In terms of the worst individual moments, neither driver will look upon Azerbaijan particularly fondly. Piastri will rue his mistake in Australia way back in March that cost him at least 16 points before the season had really begun. For his part, Norris has admitted himself that Canada was a low point in his season.
However, the majority of severe points losses suffered by either driver came through the fault of the team rather than the drivers themselves.
Take Norris’ mechanical retirement in the Netherlands as a case in point, while both drivers suffered disqualification and dropped points in consecutive races in Vegas and Qatar.
McLaren may have had the teams’ title stitched up, but it was decisions made off the track rather than on it which made the drivers’ title race far closer than it had to be.
Looking Ahead
If not for the regulation overhaul next season, McLaren may have been set for a period of domination.
To remain at the front of the field, the team will have to do what very few have done before and sustain their dominant position across two consecutive sets of regulations.
Recent history suggests it is possible, with both Hamilton and Verstappen winning drivers’ titles across different sets of regulations with Mercedes and Red Bull respectively.
It is also believed that Mercedes, much as they did during the turbo hybrid era, have stolen a march with the new engine regulations, which bodes well for the team in papaya as customers.
McLaren can also now say with confidence that they have the strongest driver lineup on the grid, with two world class drivers who are both at the peak of their powers and still improving. No other outfit can make that claim.
It is always uncertain when we encounter a new set of regulations, and never more so than now given the huge overhaul ahead of 2026, but if any team is in a position to kick on then it is the current Constructors’ Champions.
