During Max Verstappen’s four-year reign as the best driver in the world from 2021-2024, when he won four straight Formula One driver’s championships, it seemed his era of dominance—and by extension, that of the racing team he drives for, Red Bull—might never end. He is only 27 years old after all.
However, the first nine races of the 2025 F1 season proved one thing: Red Bull’s hold on the racing world was not as tight as many thought. McLaren blazed past them in the second half of last year and seemingly widened the gap through the first nine races of this mega-24 race season in 2025. They are now clearly the team to beat. But could anyone actually beat them?
McLaren’s Early Season Dominance
McLaren won five of the final 12 races last year to claim the title over Ferrari 666-652, with Red Bull finishing a distant second after a scorching start. The orange car continued that dominance to kick off the 2025 Formula One season. They won seven of the first nine races, with both of their drivers finishing on the podium in seven of nine as well, including four straight from races 6-9.
Following the Spanish Grand Prix, they held a commanding lead that would even make polarizing Red Bull team principal Christian Horner blush. Just 40 percent of the way through the campaign, and Zach Brown’s fellas racked up 362 points. That was well over twice as many points as the next-best point total on the Constructors’ Championship standings.
Who’s Chasing McLaren?
The next closest team? Ferrari, who sat on 165 points with just three podiums to their name. Compare that to the 16 of a possible 18 that McLaren have earned, and you start to see the gulf between McLaren and the field. Ferrari have been consistent though, only missing out on the points in China when both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were DQ’d.
A driver pairing of that quality means Ferrari always has a chance to make up some ground—but only if they make the necessary car upgrades during the summer break in August. And based on their results in the late spring and early summer, there could be light at the end of the Ferrari tunnel.
After failing to reach a podium during the first four races, they notched three in the next five after that. Ferrari, along with Mercedes and Red Bull, will have to get their engineers to figure out what McLaren is doing differently, and how to either reinvent it, or counteract it.
The break comes after the Hungarian Grand Prix on August 3, which means these teams need to hold on for dear life before they can bring in real improvements. If someone like Verstappen or Hamilton can pull out a victory during that span, it will be huge for the field’s chances of making the run-in for this season interesting.
2025 F1 Season Constructors’ Standings Thru 9 Races (Spanish Grand Prix)
As it stands, however, it seems like the gap is simply too wide for anyone to catch McLaren—at least not this season. The turnaround of the magnitude that McLaren had last year seems unlikely to happen two years in a row. Especially when you see the gargantuan margin they’re already ahead by.
Here are the full Constructors’ Championship standings through nine races to give you an idea of the chasm.
- McLaren – 362 points – 7 wins – 16 podiums
- Ferrari – 165 points – 0 wins – 3 podiums
- Mercedes – 159 points – 0 wins – 4 podiums
- Red Bull – 144 points – 2 wins – 4 podiums
- Williams – 54 points
- Racing Bulls – 28 points
- Haas – 26 points
- Kick Sauber – 16 points
- Aston Martin – 16 points
- Alpine – 11 points
McLaren’s 197-point lead was so big in early June that new sports betting sites stopped including markets for who will win this season’s Constructors Championship altogether. Instead, many started offering an outright future market for who will win this season without McLaren. That should tell you a lot.
For what it’s worth, Ferrari leads that market at +100 odds, with Mercedes (+162), and Red Bull (+333) just behind.
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