What McLaren F1 needs to win the World Constructors' Championship in Qatar

Among the interesting things that remain once in this finale of the 2024 F1 season Max Verstappen won the drivers' championship and the constructors' title, and McLaren F1 He has his first “match point” or “championship point” to be crowned mathematically in Qatar, although it is not easy and it will also depend on what they do Ferrari And Red Bull.

What does McLaren need to win the 2024 constructors' crown in Qatar?

McLaren leads Ferrari by 24 points and Red Bull by 53, and there are two grands prix remaining, and when the Qatar GP passes, in the Abu Dhabi GP there will only be a maximum of 44 points at stake (25 for win, 18 for second and one point for fastest lap). Handle, McLaren must leave Losail taking 45 points from Ferrari and Red Bullsince in the draw against Red Bull they would lose because Red Bull has more wins and in the draw with Ferrari it has not yet been decided who would win (they have 5 wins each).

However, this Qatar GP is a sprint format, so there are up to a maximum of 59 points at stake (double in the sprint race is 8+7 points and double with fast lap in the main race is 18+ 25 + 1 point). If McLaren is to win the World team Championship in Qatar, it needs to get more than 20 points ahead of Ferrari. and lose less than eight compared to Red Bull.

If McLaren achieves a double with Lando Norris And Oscar Piastri (the order does not matter) both in the sprint race on Saturday and in the race on Sunday with the fast lap he would be champion. Because in this case they would add 59 points, and if Charles Leclerc And Carlos Sainz If they were third and fourth in both races, Ferrari would only add 38 points, that is, for Abu Dhabi the difference would be 45 points, enough to crown McLaren.

However, it must be clarified that a team has never won all the points in a sprint weekend, even if Red Bull during the 2022 Emilia Romagna GP and Mercedes At the 2022 Sao Paulo GP, they added 58 points out of 59, failing only by being first and third (instead of first and second) in the sprint race.

When did McLaren last win the Formula 1 world championship?

Among the drivers, McLaren's last F1 title dates back to 2008 with Lewis Hamiltonbut among the manufacturers McLaren has not won the world championship since 1998. It would also have won the 2007 championship with the English team. Fernando Alonsobut lost all its points because of the “Spygate” scandal.

McLaren's last constructors' title in F1 was in 1998, when they also won the drivers' title with Mika Hakkinen already ahead of Ferrari Michael Schumacher. The crowning achievement came at the last race, in Japan, where they placed 1st and 3rd with Hakkinen and Coulthard. 26 years later, McLaren can return to glory, although driver glory still has to wait until at least 2025.

What are Ferrari and Red Bull's chances for the constructors' title?

In a In Qatar, where McLaren is favorite due to the characteristics of its car and the nature of the track, Ferrari will seek to reduce but also minimize losses. Ferrari has no mathematical options to win the constructors' title in Qatarbecause if they won all 59 points at stake and McLaren didn't add a single point, the Italians would arrive in Abu Dhabi with a 35-point advantage with 44 to share.

For their part, Red Bull has the situation even more complicated, because even with Verstappen winning both races in Qatar, they have to see how Norris and Piastri behave, since they have to take nine points from McLaren, this is not enough for them to stay. behind, eliminating, for example, only eight.

But what's more, if Ferrari scored 16 points more than Red Bull in Qatar and McLaren lost no more than 8 points with Red Bull, Red Bull would already be third in the 2024 Constructors' World Championship, after two consecutive years winning the title. . .

1st	McLaren	608	12	16	27	14	27	28	30	30	28	25	31	27	43	28	38	34	38	40	28	22	27	15
2nd	Ferrari	584	27	22	44	27	31	36	25	40	–	18	21	11	20	23	25	37	18	16	55	41	20	27
3rd	Red Bull	555	44	43	10	44	54	44	29	8	25	29	25	18	16	19	26	12	10	19	29	8	32	11