What the Formula 1 grid looked like when McLaren last led the Constructors’ Championship in 2014

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McLaren lead the Formula 1 constructors’ world champion for the first time in more than a decade. They’ve been closing in on Red Bull for months, and they’ve finally moved ahead.

Oscar Piastri won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, while teammate Lando Norris recovered from a Q1 exit to finish fourth. That earned McLaren a combined haul of 37 points, 27 more than Red Bull managed.

Sergio Perez was on course for a podium until the penultimate lap, when he was involved in a race-ending collision with Carlos Sainz. Max Verstappen only finished fifth in the sister car.

McLaren are now 20 points clear with seven races remaining. They haven’t won the constructors’ title in the 21st century.

When they last won the drivers’ championship through Lewis Hamilton in 2008, Ferrari pipped them in the teams’ table. A year earlier, they were thrown out in the midst of the ‘Spygate’ scandal.

Not since 1998, when Mika Hakkinen edged out Michael Schumacher, have McLaren clinched the trophy. Barring a significant competitive shift, they should only extend their cushion from here.

The F1 grid the last time McLaren led the standings as only Lewis Hamilton at the same team

McLaren last led the constructors’ following the 2014 Australian Grand Prix. Nico Rosberg won the season-opening race to kick-start Mercedes’ dominance in the turbo/hybrid era, but Hamilton retired.

Daniel Ricciardo originally finished second for Red Bull, only to be disqualified for a fuel flow breach. That lifted McLaren debutant Kevin Magnussen to second, with Jenson Button completing a double podium for the team.

A 33-point haul left them eight clear of Mercedes. But those were the only podiums they scored all season despite the advantage of the Silver Arrows’ power unit.

They would switch to Honda the following year, a disastrous move that dropped them to the foot of the field. It wasn’t until 2019 that they next finished a race in the top three.

The table below shows what the F1 grid – comprising 11 teams rather than 10 – looked like in Melbourne a decade ago. Hamilton is the only driver who hasn’t changed teams, and even then he’s about to leave Mercedes for Ferrari.

Button, Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen have all retired since. Fernando Alonso continues to race at 43, though his Ferrari days are a distant memory.

Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas will be yearning for their 2014 heights as they face uncertain F1 futures. Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg are now teammates at Haas – until the end of the season at least – while Perez is the only driver to make a significant leap up the grid.

Lando Norris’ sly dig at Red Bull after Oscar Piastri wins Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Much as McLaren have been fairly criticised for missing several opportunities this year, both drivers have consistently scored well. They may not have been ruthless enough to win the drivers’, but the constructors’ should be theirs from here.

Few would bet against them retaining that crown in 2025 either, though the team won’t want to look too far ahead. Marc Priestley says Norris and Piastri won’t stay friends, but that’s manageable as long as they don’t become outright hostile.

As for the rest of 2024, Norris is more worried about Ferrari than Red Bull. There’s currently a gap of 50 points, but the Scuderia are many people’s favourites for this weekend’s Singapore GP after Sainz’s win at Marina Bay last year.