McLaren can win the F1 championship at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix...here's how

Lando Norris, Zak Brown, McLaren, Abu Dhabi, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

Formula 1

McLaren can win the F1 championship at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix...here's how

McLaren could be crowned champions once more

Originally written by Sam Cook. This version is a translation.

Saturday 20 September 2025 22:00

After a 2025 season in which McLaren have been the dominant force in F1, the Woking-based outfit can claim championship success as early as this weekend.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix may well be the scene of the team securing their second successive constructors' championship title, even though there are still seven events and 346 points on offer after this weekend.

McLaren have been helped by second-placed Ferrari's inability to secure even one race victory throughout 2025, while McLaren have seven one-two finishes, with their drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri involved in a closely-fought drivers' championship battle too.

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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?

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 Piastri and 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.

McLaren Lando Norris Oscar Piastri Azerbaijan Grand Prix