McLaren Dominates: F1 Two-time Champion in Singapore, Norris on the Podium

McLaren Crowned Constructors’ Champion in Singapore

McLaren secured their second consecutive Formula 1 constructors’ championship at the Singapore Grand Prix. The team successfully defended the title thanks to Sunday’s result, where Lando Norris finished on the podium and the leader of the drivers’ championship, Oscar Piastri, finished in fourth place. McLaren’s dominant season has turned the championship into a formality since the summer break in August. The team has achieved 12 victories this year, seven of them with 1-2 results. The team hasn’t won a drivers’ championship since Lewis Hamilton’s title in 2008, but both drivers are fighting to win it this year. Piastri leads Norris in the championship by 22 points after Singapore, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen 63 points behind Piastri in third place. McLaren’s transformation has been one of the most remarkable stories of the modern Formula 1 era. When CEO Zak Brown took over in 2016, McLaren was in a failing partnership with Honda and regularly failed to progress beyond the first qualifying session.

Brown oversaw the team’s first victory in a decade at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.

“Pretty impressive,” Brown said of the consecutive titles after the Singapore Grand Prix. “An incredible team here, an incredible team back at the factory, all the men and women have done an incredible job. The leadership that Andrea [Stella] has provided to the race team, the entire leadership team, our owners, our shareholders, it’s a team effort and it’s incredible to win again, it’s been a while since we did it.”

Zak Brown

The team principal, Andrea Stella, hired the following year, has been a key piece in the puzzle for McLaren to displace Red Bull as the leading team on the grid. After the race, Stella said: “It’s an incredible emotion that I want to share with the team and thank them for the incredible work. Even with six races to go, which was incredible, but that’s thanks to the great work that has been done at McLaren.” Former Red Bull designer Rob Marshall has also played a significant role in overseeing the leading cars of the last two years. Pilots Norris and Piastri are both committed to McLaren long-term, until at least 2027 and 2028, respectively.