TIMELINE: How McLaren went from the rear of the F1 grid to back-to-back Teams' title success

McLaren have experienced an extraordinary turnaround in their Formula 1 fortunes over the last few years, going from the rear of the field at the start of the 2023 season to earning back-to-back Teams’ Championship titles in 2025. F1.com charts the journey with some of the milestone moments along the way…

March 2023 – Dropping to the back

On the eve of the 2023 campaign, the noises coming out of the McLaren camp were rather concerning. “We set some goals for development which we didn’t hit,” CEO Zak Brown openly admitted. “We felt it was better to be honest about that.”

When cars hit the track in anger at the Bahrain Grand Prix, the team’s worst fears were realised. Newcomer Oscar Piastri was knocked out in Q1 and Lando Norris in Q2. On race day it got even worse, with Piastri retiring amid technical problems and Norris encountering grave issues of his own to finish last via six pit stops.

While there were signs of more pace on the high-speed streets of Jeddah next time out, McLaren also left Saudi Arabia empty-handed and found themselves holding a lowly ninth in the Constructors’ standings – ahead of only AlphaTauri (now Racing Bulls).

March 2023 – Sweeping technical changes

Just a few days later, McLaren announced an overhaul of their technical department, with experienced engineer James Key departing the Woking-based team and his Technical Director position being split into three specialised roles going forward.

According to McLaren, evaluations under new Team Principal Andrea Stella – who had replaced Andreas Seidl over the winter – began several months beforehand, in response to them falling from third in the standings in 2020 to fourth in 2021 and fifth in 2022.

“This new structure provides clarity and effectiveness within the team’s technical department and puts us in a strong position to maximise performance, including optimising the new infrastructure upgrades we have coming in 2023,” declared Stella.

June/July 2023 – Updates provide a huge boost

That optimisation appeared to pay off pretty quickly in the form of an upgrade package applied to Norris’ car at the Austrian Grand Prix, where the Briton qualified fourth for the main race and third for the Sprint, and eventually crossed the line in P4 on Sunday.

It marked a huge step forward for the team, following further point-less weekends in Miami, Spain and Canada, and prompted Brown to declare that McLaren were “back in the game” for the remainder of the season – “a lot of credit” going to Stella in the process.

July 2023 – Both cars propelled into the mix

McLaren took things to the next level at the subsequent British Grand Prix, where Piastri got his hands on the range of developments Norris ran in Austria and both drivers – living up to their striking chrome liveries – featured in the front-running battle throughout the weekend.

Indeed, Norris and Piastri emerged as Red Bull rival Max Verstappen’s nearest challenger to qualify second and third around the sweeps of Silverstone, with the former keeping P2 in the race and the latter looking set to join him on the podium until an ill-timed Safety Car.

September 2023 – Double podium celebrations

McLaren would achieve that double podium a couple of months later, though, with Norris and Piastri coming home second and third – behind a dominant Verstappen – in the Japanese Grand Prix, marking the squad’s best result since their 1-2 at Monza during the 2021 season.

October 2023 – A win and a wind tunnel

A sweltering weekend in Qatar brought the victory McLaren had been craving, Piastri mastering the Sprint Shootout to secure top spot and keeping Verstappen at bay in the Sprint to take the chequered flag first – then backing all of that up with a fine P2 in the Grand Prix itself.

October also marked a significant off-track development when McLaren’s new in-house wind tunnel went live, a move Stella noted came with significant “practical” and “financial” benefits after years of travelling to Cologne, Germany to use Toyota’s set up.

November 2023 – Salvaging P4 in the Constructors’

Eight months after they sat second to last in the Constructors’ standings, the aforementioned technical reshuffles and potent upgrades saw McLaren rise to a much more respectable position, culminating in them snatching fourth from Aston Martin in the final stages of the season.

January 2024 – Headline new hires start work

As part of their March 2023 announcement, McLaren revealed that David Sanchez – having spent a decade at Ferrari – would be returning to the team as Technical Director, Car Concept and Performance, with respected engineer Rob Marshall signed from Red Bull shortly after that.

“The addition of a high-end and skilled individual like Rob will further consolidate our ability to establish the highest technical standards at McLaren and be in condition to design winning F1 cars,” said Stella, ahead of both men starting work on January 1, 2024.

April 2024 – Another technical adjustment

As it transpired, Sanchez only lasted a few months in his role, with an early-April press release from McLaren explaining that after “a number of discussions” over job responsibilities, the Frenchman had vacated his position amid updates across the department.

Following Sanchez’s exit, Marshall assumed the role of Chief Designer, Neil Houldey moved over to become Technical Director of Engineering, while Peter Prodromou continued in his role as Technical Director of Aerodynamics – all aimed at “further strengthening and evolving the technical model”.

May 2024 – More upgrades hit the mark

McLaren enjoyed a much stronger start to the 2024 season and, almost a year on from that sensational 2023 turnaround being initiated, they unleashed another effective package at the Miami Grand Prix to go from occasional challengers to consistent front-runners.

While the Safety Car played its part in Florida, Norris brilliantly absorbed the pressure from Verstappen across the second half of the race to score his maiden F1 victory and give McLaren their first win since Daniel Ricciardo’s Italian Grand Prix triumph in 2021.

July 2024 – A landmark 1-2 finish

McLaren went on a run of five successive P2 results with Norris and Piastri after that Miami triumph, adding another podium finish on home soil at Silverstone, but it was during the mid-summer Hungarian Grand Prix weekend that they hit the heights of a 1-2 finish.

It was not without controversy, given that pole-sitter Norris had lost out to Piastri at the start and undercut his team mate in the pits, then took a long time to obey his engineer’s instruction to swap positions, but the fact remained that McLaren filled the top two positions.

August 2024 – Norris makes a statement

Norris faced plenty of questions from the media over his handling of the situation, and a scruffy race in Belgium only added fuel to the fire, but he bounced back in style at the Dutch Grand Prix with a stunning hat-trick of pole position, fastest lap and the race win.

Exploiting further McLaren upgrades to finish more than 20 seconds clear of home hero Verstappen, who struggled with his Red Bull all weekend, it was here that talk of not only challenging for the Constructors’ Championship – but also the drivers’ crown – took off.

September 2024 – Topping the Constructors’ table

Both McLaren drivers were on the podium again at Monza, albeit with some further drama around their so-called ‘papaya rules’, before Piastri pulled off an overtaking and defensive masterclass to beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in Azerbaijan and earn a second Grand Prix win.

McLaren’s latest points haul, combined with car balance struggles at Red Bull that were not only impacting Sergio Perez, but also Verstappen, meant Brown and Stella’s team moved into the lead of the Constructors’ Championship for the first time in more than a decade.

December 2024 – Ending their F1 title drought

McLaren were 20 points clear of Red Bull in the Teams’ Championship after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with Ferrari 31 points further back in third position – setting up a seven-round showdown across the final sequence of flyaway races.

Old rivals Ferrari put on a late-season charge to keep them honest until the last round in Abu Dhabi, where a dominant pole-to-victory run from Norris was enough to seal the deal and give McLaren their first Teams’ title since 1998.

March 2025 – A flying start and a 50th 1-2 finish

Norris and McLaren continued where they left off in 2024 when the 2025 campaign got under way via an impressive wet-weather victory in Australia, and things got even better for the team at the subsequent Chinese Grand Prix weekend.

With Piastri bouncing back from his late spin on home soil and Norris bagging another podium in second, McLaren earned their 50th 1-2 finish as an F1 constructor – a run that was started by Denny Hulme and founder Bruce McLaren back in 1968.

August 2025 – Hitting 200 Grand Prix wins

McLaren continued to rack up the wins and podiums as 2025 progressed, building a significant lead in the Teams’ Championship standings over Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari, and there would be another momentous moment over the summer.

After losing out to Leclerc and Piastri during Qualifying in Hungary, Norris cleared the pair on race day to secure McLaren’s 200th Grand Prix victory – albeit generating plenty of paddock chatter given that he made one pit stop to his team mate’s two.

October 2025 – Doing the championship double

Underlining just how strong their MCL39 package has been, and the consistency of Piastri and Norris as a driver pairing, McLaren had a chance to wrap up the 2025 Teams’ Championship at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with a whopping seven races still to go.

A rare off-weekend for all involved meant the situation moved on to Singapore, where Norris and Piastri’s P3-P4 return – via their clash on the first lap – confirmed McLaren as back-to-back champions with double the points of nearest rivals Mercedes.

Now it remains to be seen if McLaren can go one step further and win both titles in the same season for the first time since 1998, with Piastri 22 points clear of Norris in the Drivers’ Championship as Red Bull’s Verstappen closes in…