A second Formula 1 constructors' championship in two years seems only a matter of time now for McLaren, which can seal the title at this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix.
It actually had its first chance to wrap it up at the Azerbaijan GP two weeks ago - just as the final third of the 2025 F1 season kicked off - but its worst weekend of the campaign by some stretch prolonged the inevitable for at least one more week.
Still, with the MCL39 having proved the class of the field in 2025, and with main rivals Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull all taking points off each other at various points this year in the battle for second, McLaren has such an advantage that it can even afford to lose more ground and still be coronated in Singapore.
As it stands
Just 20 points covers the three teams in the chasing pack behind McLaren, but its nearest rival Mercedes is 333 points back as F1 heads to the Marina Bay circuit this weekend.
F1 2025 constructors' championship (17/24 rounds)
1 McLaren 623
2 Mercedes 290
3 Ferrari 286
4 Red Bull 272
With seven weekends left of the season, three of which include sprint races, there are a maximum of 346 points still available: 301 points for 1-2 finishes in every grand prix, and 45 points for the same result in the three remaining sprint races at Austin, Interlagos and Qatar.
That number will become 303 points after the Singapore GP - so that is the margin McLaren needs to be clear of its nearest rival by come the end of the weekend.
What rivals need to do to prolong the fight
Mercedes is 333 points behind McLaren and must end the weekend 302 points behind or closer (owing to McLaren's superior tally of wins in the event of a countback) to take the constructors' championship fight to the US GP later this month.
That means Mercedes must outscore McLaren by 31 points or more.
Even a 1-2 finish in Singapore would not guarantee the title fight was prolonged; in that scenario, Mercedes would need McLaren's drivers to score a combined 12 points or fewer.
To secure that minimum points haul of 31 - which, again, still requires McLaren to have a non-scoring or very low-scoring weekend - Mercedes must either get both cars on the podium or win the race and have its second car finish seventh or higher.
Ferrari is 337 points behind McLaren and like Mercedes must end the weekend 302 points behind or nearer to keep its hopes alive.
That means it must make up 35 points or more on McLaren.
It can only do so by winning the race and having its second car finish fifth or higher.
If Ferrari does not win the Singapore GP then there is no scenario in which it can catch McLaren, regardless of what Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri manage.
Even in such a scenario as Ferrari scoring a 1-2, McLaren would only need nine points from its two cars to rule Ferrari out of the title fight.
Red Bull is only 14 points behind Ferrari but is already out of the running for this particular title.
Despite Max Verstappen (third in the drivers' championship and an increasingly ominous threat) winning the past two grands prix, Red Bull is 351 points behind McLaren - so is already five short of the maximum score available for the remainder of 2025.
What McLaren needs to do to clinch the title
If both McLaren drivers finish on the podium then it will seal the title: none of its rivals would be able to outscore the 43-, 40-, or 33-point hauls it would achieve in those scenarios.
But in reality McLaren needs much less than that to mathematically secure the title: just 13 points.
That tally (one it could only exactly achieve if one car finished fourth and the other was 10th) would take its total to 636 points.
In that scenario, Mercedes could only match that with a perfect score in Singapore and in every other grand prix and sprint race until the end of the season, and it catching up would also require McLaren to non-score for the rest of the campaign.
But even in that scenario, McLaren's tally of 12 wins from 17 races so far in 2025 is unassailable and would mean it won on countback.
If either McLaren finishes in the top three it will also secure the constructors' title regardless of what the second car or any of its rivals achieve.
That 13-point haul is one McLaren has only failed to achieve once in 2025 (at the most recent round in Azerbaijan).
