The Singapore Grand Prix marked a milestone moment for McLaren, the squad sealing the 10th Teams\u2019 Championship of their long and storied history. Having so far achieved 12 wins, 28 podiums and a whopping 650 points in 2025, the Woking-based outfit wrapped up the title with six rounds of the campaign remaining.<\/p>\n
It is doubtless an impressive feat \u2013 but how does this success compare to the team\u2019s previous triumphant seasons? Well, we\u2019ve taken a shot at ranking each of McLaren<\/a>\u2019s 10 Teams\u2019 Championships, from their first in 1974 through to their latest.<\/p>\n As ever, this comes with the caveat that Formula 1 has undergone various changes \u2013 such as developments to the points-scoring system and the increased number races in a season \u2013 across the team\u2019s title-winning campaigns, making comparisons tricky, but we have tried to balance statistics with sentiment in our list.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t quite agree with our order? Let us know which of the team\u2019s titles you rate as the greatest in the poll below\u2026<\/p>\n 10. 1985<\/p>\n Drivers \u2013 Niki Lauda and Alain Prost While it feels unfair to rank any title triumph at the bottom, we start with the 1985 crown. Such has been the success that McLaren have experienced in their championship-winning seasons that this campaign \u2013 in which they took victory in six out of 16 races \u2013 features one of their lower winning percentages.<\/p>\n Arriving into the season off the back of title glory in 1984 (more on which later), 1985 brought with it increased competition as seven drivers \u2013 from five different teams \u2013 each won races.<\/p>\n McLaren\u2019s Alain Prost<\/a> \u2013 who had just missed out on the Drivers\u2019 title in 1984 to team mate Niki Lauda<\/a> \u2013 emerged victorious in a total of five Grands Prix, while Lauda stood on the top step just once.<\/p>\n This ultimately gave the squad their third Teams\u2019 Championship and marked the first time that they had achieved back-to-back titles.<\/p>\n 9. 1990<\/p>\n Drivers \u2013 Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger The 1990 season marked a change in driver line-up for McLaren, with Gerhard Berger arriving to partner Ayrton Senna after tensions boiled over between the Brazilian and previous team mate Alain Prost (again, more to come on that).<\/p>\n Prost\u2019s move to Ferrari saw his former team pick up fewer wins, with Senna leading the charge as he again went head-to-head with the Frenchman in the championship fight.<\/p>\n That battle ended in infamous style when the rivals controversially collided into the first corner at the Japanese Grand Prix, immediately putting both out of the race and handing Senna the Drivers\u2019 crown in the process.<\/p>\n McLaren, meanwhile, took the Teams\u2019 Championship with an 11-point margin from Ferrari.<\/p>\n 8. 1991<\/p>\n Drivers \u2013 Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger The 1991 crown was a historic achievement for McLaren, marking the team\u2019s fourth consecutive championship victory. This run of form was unbeaten for several years, with only Ferrari (six titles between 1999-2004) and Mercedes (eight titles between 2014-2021) bettering the record.<\/p>\n Amid previous rivals Ferrari<\/a> falling away, reigning Drivers\u2019 Champion Ayrton Senna<\/a> kicked off his and the team\u2019s title defence in commanding style, winning all four of the campaign\u2019s opening races including his long-awaited first home victory in Brazil<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite Williams<\/a> emerging as their nearest competitor as the campaign progressed, McLaren did enough to fend off the challenge and secure their seventh Teams\u2019 title to complete a remarkable run of four back-to-back championships, while Senna clinched his third Drivers\u2019 crown.<\/p>\n It would prove to be the final time that Senna became a World Champion, while McLaren would have to wait several years for their next title\u2026<\/p>\n 7. 1974<\/p>\n Drivers \u2013 Emerson Fittipaldi and Denny Hulme Statistically, McLaren\u2019s 1974 triumph is another to feature a lower winning percentage, the squad having taken victory in four out of 15 races.<\/p>\n However, needless to say, this championship was an incredibly important one as it marked the first time that the team had experienced title glory since making their F1 debut back in 1966.<\/p>\n With the strong pairing of World Champions Emerson Fittipaldi<\/a> and Denny Hulme<\/a> at the wheel, McLaren finally earned a long-awaited Teams\u2019 title, while Fittipaldi also scored the squad\u2019s first Drivers\u2019 crown.<\/p>\n Coming just four years after the death of founder Bruce McLaren, the feat was an emotional one. As Fittipaldi recounted in a McLaren interview<\/a> last year: \u201cAt the time, we were 28 people, now it\u2019s 1,000. For sure, it created even more motivation for the future. History tells us what happened next, with so many fantastic World Champions.\u201d<\/p>\n 6. 2024<\/p>\n Drivers \u2013 Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri On paper, the 2024 championship features McLaren\u2019s lowest percentage of race wins across their title-winning years. But, as ever, the numbers only tell part of the story, with this triumph proving hugely significant in the papaya squad\u2019s history.<\/p>\n After Red Bull<\/a> collected both 2023 titles in one of the most dominant performances ever witnessed in the sport, it initially appeared that the Milton Keynes-based outfit had carried that form through by surging to a 1-2 in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.<\/p>\n McLaren finished that race well off the podium \u2013 but, after a major upgrade to the car on the weekend of Lando Norris<\/a>\u2019 debut victory in Miami, the team rapidly became a force to be reckoned with, taking the fight to Max Verstappen<\/a> and Red Bull in both championships.<\/p>\n While the Drivers\u2019 crown ultimately proved elusive \u2013 and the team made some strategic errors along the way \u2013 McLaren were able to keep a chasing Ferrari at bay during the Abu Dhabi season finale to secure their first Teams\u2019 title since 1998, a feat that would scarcely have seemed believable when the squad started 2023 near the back of the field.<\/p>\n 5. 1998<\/p>\n Drivers \u2013 Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard As previously mentioned, the 2024 success was McLaren\u2019s first Teams\u2019 crown in 26 years, with the last one prior to that also marking something of a comeback story.<\/p>\n Following their aforementioned 1991 victory, the squad were overhauled by Williams \u2013 and Benetton \u2013 in the seasons that followed. But a change to the technical regulations in 1998 was an opportunity that McLaren seized, with the MP4-13 proving the class of the field when the campaign got underway.<\/p>\n The team faced increased competition as the season progressed \u2013 with this arguably marking the start of Mika Hakkinen<\/a> and Michael Schumacher<\/a>\u2019s classic rivalry as they fought for the Drivers\u2019 Championship \u2013 and Ferrari were still in with a chance of taking the crown at the season-closing Japanese Grand Prix.<\/p>\n However, a flawless performance from Hakkinen at Suzuka \u2013 coupled with misfortune for Schumacher, who was forced to retire after suffering a puncture \u2013 secured both titles for McLaren. And while the squad could not make it back-to-back Teams\u2019 Championships in 1999, Hakkinen went on to secure another Drivers\u2019 crown<\/a>.<\/p>\n 4. 1989<\/p>\n Drivers \u2013 Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna As we head towards the top end of our ranking, we now move into some of McLaren\u2019s most dominant championship successes, seasons that also brought with them some truly iconic moments \u2013 and battles \u2013 along the way.<\/p>\n The 1989 season marked the second year in which Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna formed the team\u2019s line-up, a formidable pairing that had (spoiler alert) already secured title glory during the 1988 campaign.<\/p>\n While new regulations outlawing turbocharged engines had come into effect, McLaren appeared to have tackled the change smoothly as 1989 began, with Senna and Prost claiming six and four wins respectively amid another fierce title fight between the two.<\/p>\n The Drivers\u2019 Championship ended in controversy, with Senna being disqualified from the Japanese Grand Prix for cutting a chicane after rejoining the track following a collision with Prost, a result that gave the crown to the latter. But, internal tensions aside, the duo again brought home the Teams\u2019 title in their final campaign as team mates.<\/p>\n 3. 2025<\/p>\n Drivers \u2013 Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri Arguably, the dominance of McLaren in this year\u2019s Teams\u2019 Championship could put this success even higher in our ranking. But given that the season is still playing out \u2013 and the Drivers\u2019 crown is crucially yet to be decided \u2013 we have opted for the number 3 spot.<\/p>\n While the 2024 season saw the papaya squad slowly gain momentum, there was no such process this time around, with the team immediately quick out of the blocks at the start of the 2025 campaign.<\/p>\n Drivers\u2019 Championship leader Oscar Piastri<\/a> and team mate Lando Norris have achieved seven and five Grand Prix wins respectively so far, which has included an impressive seven 1-2 finishes. This gave McLaren such a sizeable lead over their rivals that the Teams\u2019 title was wrapped up in Singapore<\/a>, tying with Red Bull\u2019s 2023 record for the earliest championship win in the sport\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
Races \u2013 16, Wins \u2013 6 (37.5%), Podiums \u2013 12 (37.5%), Points \u2013 90<\/p>\n
Races \u2013 16, Wins \u2013 6 (37.5%), Podiums \u2013 18 (56.3%), Points \u2013 121<\/p>\n
Races \u2013 16, Wins \u2013 8 (50%), Podiums \u2013 18 (56.3%), Points \u2013 139<\/p>\n
Races \u2013 15, Wins \u2013 4 (26.7%), Podiums \u2013 10 (33.3%), Points \u2013 73<\/p>\n
Races \u2013 24, Wins \u2013 6 (25%), Podiums \u2013 21 (43.6%), Points \u2013 666<\/p>\n
Races \u2013 16, Wins \u2013 9 (56.3%), Podiums \u2013 20 (62.5%), Points \u2013 156<\/p>\n
Races \u2013 16, Wins \u2013 10 (62.5%), Podiums \u2013 18 (56.3%), Points \u2013 141<\/p>\n
Races \u2013 24 (18 completed so far), Wins \u2013 12 (66.7%), Podiums \u2013 28 (77.8%), Points \u2013 650*
*From season so far<\/p>\n