McLaren clinches 2025 constructors’ crown as Norris–Piastri sparks fly in Singapore
McLaren wrapped up the 2025 Constructors’ Championship under the lights in Marina Bay, but the headline inside the orange garage wasn’t about trophies. It was about track space. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri rubbed wheels on lap one, and while both cars survived, the papaya party came with a pinch of needle.
Norris finished third, Piastri fourth, as George Russell kept his head and took a measured second win of the season for Mercedes. Max Verstappen split the McLarens in second and, crucially, kept himself in the title conversation by nicking more points off the duo who’ve set the tone all year.
The bigger picture? McLaren has sealed back-to-back constructors’ titles for the first time since 1991. It’s the vindication of two years of relentless gains, razor-sharp ops, and a driver pairing that’s been devastatingly quick — and now visibly on edge. With six rounds left, the intra-team dynamic is getting spicy.
Piastri still leads the Drivers’ Championship on 336 points. Norris, now 22 adrift on 314 after the Singapore skirmish, knows he can’t give any more ground to his teammate. Verstappen sits on 273, only 41 behind Norris and very much the irritant McLaren can’t shake. Russell’s win moves him to 237; he’s mathematically alive, like Charles Leclerc on 173, but both need an extraordinary swing to turn this fight their way.
Mercedes, though, will take plenty from Sunday. Between Russell’s win and a mature points haul from rookie Kimi Antonelli, the team banked 35 points and eased clear of Ferrari for second in the standings. The numbers tell the story: McLaren 650 (champions), Mercedes 325, Ferrari 300, Red Bull 290. Behind them, Williams continues to overachieve on 102, while Racing Bulls (72), Aston Martin (66), Sauber (55), Haas (46) and Alpine (20) round out the table.
Red Bull’s position is almost entirely Verstappen-powered. Yuki Tsunoda failed to crack the top 10 again, leaving his teammate to wage a lone campaign against two cars that are usually operating as a pair — when they’re not trying to occupy the same patch of tarmac.
Elsewhere, Fernando Alonso produced the sort of stubborn, elbows-out recovery drive that’s become a staple of his twilight era, grabbing points for Aston Martin despite a sluggish mid-race stop. There were rewards, too, for Oliver Bearman at Haas and Carlos Sainz at Williams — the kind of gritty Sunday hauls that prop up the midfield arithmetic as the season tightens.
But the weekend belonged to McLaren, even if the lap-one scuff between its drivers will be replayed in papaya HQ all week. Piastri and Norris have been polite partners in public, but title runs tend to pull the mask off any pairing. Neither is blinking. And this time, neither had much room to.
What happens next is where this championship could really be won or lost. McLaren has the points and the pace. But the final six venues reward clarity and clean execution. If the team keeps the racing fair and the strategies sharp, it should be able to manage the storm. If it doesn’t, Verstappen won’t need a second invitation.
Standings snapshot after Singapore:
– Drivers: Piastri 336, Norris 314, Verstappen 273, Russell 237, Leclerc 173, Hamilton 127, Antonelli 88, Albon 70, Hadjar 39, Hülkenberg 37.
– Constructors: McLaren 650 (champions), Mercedes 325, Ferrari 300, Red Bull 290, Williams 102, Racing Bulls 72, Aston Martin 66, Sauber 55, Haas 46, Alpine 20.
Two takeaways to pocket from Marina Bay. First, McLaren’s machine — across pit wall, factory and garage — is the class of the field. Second, the title fight isn’t just between teams anymore. It’s between two drivers in the same car, orbiting the same dream, with just enough paint traded to remind everyone how fragile dominance can be.
