F1 standings: How McLaren can win the constructors' championship at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

McLaren celebrate constructors championship — Photo: © IMAGO

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How can McLaren win the F1 championship at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix?

McLaren could be crowned champions once more

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Saturday 20 September 2025 09:57

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After a truly dominant F1 season, McLaren can wrap up the constructors' championship this weekend at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

With eight events remaining in the season, the team can claim their second successive championship crown in Baku, before sitting back and seeing which of their two drivers will claim the drivers' championship before the end of 2025.

The Woking-based outfit have claimed seven one-two finishes in the first 16 race weekends of the season, and their cause has been helped by the fact that second place Ferrari have not won a single race so far in 2025.

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It means that McLaren can win the championship staggeringly early in Azerbaijan, but there are still four teams who mathematically have a chance of stopping them. For one weekend at least.

How many points do McLaren need to win constructors' championship?

Put simply, McLaren need to outscore Ferrari by nine points at the Azerbaijan GP if they are to make it mathematically impossible for the Scuderia to claim championship success in 2025.

They are currently 337 points ahead of Ferrari, and what the Maranello outfit are able to do throughout the weekend will be irrelevant if a McLaren driver wins the race and the other driver finishes second or third.

If Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris finish lower down the order, however, all eyes will be on what Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton can achieve, just needing to ensure they don't get outscored by nine points in order to keep their extremely faint chances of winning the constructors' championship alive.

If McLaren finish the race weekend 346 points or more ahead of any other team, they will be crowned champions for the second year running.

Can Mercedes still win the constructors' championship?

With eight race weekends remaining and sat down in third, Mercedes do still have a chance of stopping McLaren from winning the constructors' championship.

It would take a record amount of one-two finishes in the final third of an F1 season to do that, with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli not only relying on exceptional performances, but also a number of failures to score points for both Piastri and Norris.

Mercedes will be out of mathematical contention of winning the constructors' championship if they fail to outscore McLaren by at least 12 points at the Azerbaijan GP.

Can Red Bull still win the constructors' championship?

Max Verstappen's incredible performances in 2025 to win his team three races mean that they too still have a chance of constructors' championship success, despite being all the way down in fourth.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda has only scored nine points across 14 race weekends since replacing Liam Lawson back in April, and that has really hampered the team's progress in the constructors' championship.

However, if they can outscore McLaren by 33 points this weekend then they will still be mathematically able to win the teams' championship.

With Verstappen driving the RB21, anything is possible. But I think we can safely say that Red Bull will not win the 2025 constructors' championship.

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McLaren Lando Norris Oscar Piastri Azerbaijan Grand Prix