McLaren stand one race from annihilating rivals and sealing the 2025 F1 Constructors’ crown

McLaren’s 2025 Formula 1 season has turned into a demolition job, and the team now stand on the brink of wrapping up the Constructors’ Championship in Azerbaijan. With a record of crushing victories and unmatched consistency, the British outfit could put their rivals out of their misery in Baku this weekend.

Across 16 races, McLaren have secured 12 wins, including seven emphatic one-two finishes. Only once this year have they failed to put at least one car on the podium. Their current tally of 617 points dwarfs the competition: Ferrari sit in a distant second with 280, Mercedes trail on 260, and Red Bull languish further back at 239.

The numbers alone tell a story of merciless domination. With eight races left in the season, a maximum of 389 points remain up for grabs. But McLaren’s existing cushion over Ferrari—an eye-watering 337 points—means the title fight is effectively a formality. Only a mathematical miracle could prevent the Woking team from being crowned champions.

The equation in Baku is simple. If McLaren leave Azerbaijan with a lead of 346 points or more, the championship will be sealed. That means they need to out-score Ferrari by just nine points on Sunday. Victory paired with a second or third-place finish would lock the result beyond any doubt, no matter what their Italian rivals manage to achieve.

It is an extraordinary position for a team that not so long ago was battling in the midfield. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have delivered week after week, turning the MCL39 into the most feared machine on the grid. The car’s reliability and pace have left opponents scrambling for scraps, while team strategy has been executed with ruthless precision.

The mood in Maranello, Brackley, and Milton Keynes is starkly different. Ferrari, once the giants of Formula 1, can only watch their fading hopes flicker out. They must claw back ground in Baku to keep even a sliver of hope alive, but the task looks beyond them.

Mercedes, meanwhile, are hanging on by a thread. Sitting 357 points behind, they must out-score McLaren by 12 points this weekend to remain mathematically in contention. The prospect appears fanciful at best.

Red Bull, the dominant force of recent years, are in an even darker place. With a deficit of 378 points, they would need to out-score McLaren by 33 points in Azerbaijan merely to stay alive in the fight. That would require a collapse of historic proportions from Norris and Piastri combined with perfection from Milton Keynes.

The reality is that McLaren’s rivals are not battling for the title anymore—they are clinging to pride. The Constructors’ crown is all but delivered, and Baku may simply serve as the official burial ground for Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull’s faint hopes.

Should McLaren somehow stumble in Azerbaijan, the reckoning will only be postponed. The following round in Singapore would present another opportunity to complete the job. But based on the evidence of 2025 so far, it would be brave—and perhaps foolish—to bet against them finishing the fight this weekend.

For McLaren, this championship represents more than just silverware. It symbolises the culmination of years of rebuilding, investment, and faith in young drivers who have matured into race-winning stars. For the rest of the grid, it is a sobering reminder of how ruthless Formula 1 can be when one team gets everything right.

The countdown to Baku has begun, and with it, the prospect of McLaren sealing one of the most dominant championship campaigns in recent memory. Rivals know the outcome is coming. The only question is whether the axe falls now, or later.