McLaren 2025 recap

Glory, champagne, and papaya rules. Those are the four words that best describe the season that McLaren has had in 2025. Not only did they sweep the constructors, but they also walked away with the driver's title, finishing another successful year.

(Image Credits to @mclaren on Instagram)

Highlights

To pick out highlights of this year's season for McLaren would be like picking out beads at Hobby Lobby; there are just too many to choose from. But to sum up a few would definitely be the Constructors' Championship, the Drivers' Championship, and the 200th race win for the team. This season has firmly secured them that spot at the top that they so harshly fell from years ago. They were a hard-fought midfield team, and now they are the ones to beat. 

Struggles

Although McLaren had their best season in years, it was not without struggle. After the summer break, it seemed as though they had lost their grip, mainly in internal management. Things like a technical DNF, a double DNF, and a double DSQ were notable for the team that started so well in the early stages of the season. When their struggles first seemed like they were affecting Lando during the Dutch Grand Prix, it quickly proved to make Oscar’s season difficult too, despite both drivers also making their own mistakes.

Statistics (podiums, wins, constructors' standings)

McLaren won the Constructors Championship in 2025 at the Singapore Grand Prix, which secured them the tenth constructors' title for McLaren with 650 points at that stage. They went on to finish the season with a dominating 833 points. Both Piastri and Norris ended the season with seven wins. Norris secured 18 podium finishes, with Piastri securing 16, bringing the team's total for the season to 34 podium finishes. The World Drivers Championship was a close battle, but Norris brought home the title after ending the season on 423 points. Piastri came third in the championship battle with 410 points. Norris and Piastri both achieved 6 DHL Fastest Laps during the season.

Big news

This year, McLaren brought forward a lot of big stories and controversy. Things to take into 2026 would be a new team name, McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 team, and the fact that papaya rules are inevitable in the current managing landscape of this team. Stories of this year included a double DSQ in Las Vegas, Papaya rules in Monza, and of course, the Constructors and Drivers titles.

Lando Norris

For Lando Norris, the 2025 season was definitely one to remember. He started the season securing wins and podiums until the Saudi Arabian GP in Jeddah, where he came fourth. For the most part, Norris had consistent results apart from his two DNFs of the season during the Canadian and Dutch Grand Prix. Norris also got disqualified following the Las Vegas Grand Prix due to the thickness of the car's plank being below the required 9mm. This really closed the gap between the top three for the World Championship, but in the following races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, Norris managed to secure enough points to win his first ever WDC, a day McLaren won’t ever forget.

Oscar Piastri

Overall, Piastri had a successful 2025 season. He may have started the season with a ninth-place finish at his home race, but over the 8 races following this, he finished each of these races on the podium, meaning he was leading the championship fight. Piastri had a P4 finish at the Canadian Grand Prix and then secured another six consecutive podium finishes. Throughout the season, Piastri had three DNF’s, this being during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the COTA sprint, and the Brazil sprint. In the subsequent races, Piastri finished in the top 5 but hadn’t secured a podium, which meant that the championship battle only got more competitive with the last three races. During the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Piastri got disqualified for the same reason as Norris (planks' thickness being below the required 9mm). In the last two races, Piastri secured P2 finishes in both, which meant he finished in third place for the championship fight with 410 points.

In conclusion, McLaren had one of the most dominant seasons in recent times. However, it was not spotless like some would call Red Bull’s 2023 season. It had DNF’s skid block issues and controversy. Taking this into account, we can say that this season and the 2024 season provide a solid foundation to look ahead. Mistakes were made, and all that is left to do is learn from them and take yet another step forward in 2026. 

Article written by Norah d’Hont, Ria Wiktor

 ©Norah d’Hont, Ria Wiktor 2025