McLaren Misses Historic F1 Points Record After Las Vegas Disqualification
McLaren's 2025 constructors' championship total of 833 points fell just 27 points short of Red Bull's all-time season record. The team would have broken the record with 863 points had it not been for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri's disqualification from the Las Vegas GP due to excessive plank wear.
McLaren fell just short of breaking Red Bull's all-time single-season points record, with its Las Vegas Grand Prix disqualification proving to be the decisive blow. The team finished the 2025 season with 833 points, a mere 27 points shy of the 860-point benchmark set by Red Bull in 2023.
Why it matters:
Records are a key measure of a team's dominance in a given era. McLaren's near-miss, despite a historically strong car and driver lineup, underscores how fine the margins are at the pinnacle of Formula 1. A single technical infraction erased what would have been a landmark achievement for the resurgent Woking squad.
The details:
- Entering the summer break, McLaren was on a dominant run with four consecutive one-two finishes, putting a historic 1,000-point constructors' total within mathematical reach.
- The team's form slightly dipped in the second half, but the record for most points in a season remained a tangible target heading into the final rounds.
- At the Las Vegas GP, Lando Norris finished second and Oscar Piastri fourth, which would have added 30 points to McLaren's total.
- Both cars were subsequently disqualified for excessive plank wear, a technical breach related to the car's ride height, stripping the team of those points.
- With those 30 points, McLaren's final tally would have been 863, eclipsing Red Bull's 2023 record by three points.
Between the lines:
The record chase highlights the intense pressure of a championship fight. Teams often run their cars at the absolute limit of the regulations to extract every fraction of performance. McLaren's plank wear issue in Vegas suggests the team was pushing the mechanical and aerodynamic setup extremely low to the ground for maximum speed, a risk that ultimately backfired in the quest for the record.
What's next:
While the record slipped away, McLaren's 833-point season remains one of the most dominant in F1 history and solidifies its return to the sport's absolute forefront. The focus for 2026 will shift to maintaining this performance level while navigating the major new technical regulations, where consistency and reliability will be just as critical as outright speed.