McLaren’s Austria charge proves its racing spirit is the attitude F1 needs

As McLaren chased down a victory in Austria — and continued to pad its stunning lead of the World Constructors’ Championship — one fact became clear: The F1 team’s decision to do away with the standard operating procedure has led to a stunning turn of fortunes.

By marching to the beat of its own drum, McLaren had redefined the playbook for teams looking to succeed in Formula 1 — and it has taken fewer than 10 years to transform the team from a backmarker to a dominant championship leader.

McLaren is redefining what it means to race in Formula 1

Ten years ago, at the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix, McLaren driver Fernando Alonso launched into a tirade on the radio, slamming McLaren’s use of a so-called “GP2 engine” in the midst of a deeply frustrating season that saw the Honda-powered team finishing a lowly ninth in the Constructors’ Championship.

Five years ago, in 2020, McLaren teetered to the very edge of bankruptcy. The COVID-19 pandemic saw the company slash 1,200 employees from its workforce, including 70 members of the Formula 1 team — but things had started to change. By taking two podiums and consistently finishing within the points, the Renault-powered team clinched a stunning third overall in the WCC.

Now, as the dust settles on the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix, McLaren dominates both the drivers’ and constructors’ standings. Lando Norris snatched pole with the widest margin of the year and held off his ultra-competitive team-mate Oscar Piastri to take a win. Both drivers competed wheel-to-wheel without incident, and both have extended their dominant lead over the competition.

And it’s all because McLaren reinvented what it means to be a Formula 1 team.

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The journey has been a long one, but McLaren has demonstrated that its almost rebellious racing spirit has been massively successful.

McLaren has evolved dramatically depending on the person in charge of its racing division; founded in the 1960s by fun-loving New Zealander Bruce McLaren, the team’s transfer of leadership over to Ron Dennis in 1980 saw the ultra-cool innovators become clean-cut businessmen who weren’t afraid to professionalise the outfit’s operations.

Then came the entrance of Zak Brown, who took over leadership of McLaren Racing operations in 2017. With the audacious American in charge, McLaren changed tactics.

Brown set about a major refresh of the team. Major players in the team — like race director Eric Bouiller, technical head Tim Goss, and engineering director Matt Morris — all walked away in 2018, allowing the new CEO to pull in talents like Gil de Ferran and Andreas Seidl. His more recent decision to promote Andrea Stella to the role of team principal has proved equally, if not more, inspired.

Brown rubbed shoulders with key business figures, transforming its once-bare car into a logo-bedecked machine boasting sponsorship from major brands like Google, Mastercard, eBay, Monster, Hilton, Goldman Sachs, T-Mobile, Dell, and many more.

McLaren inked a power unit deal with Mercedes, and hired two promising young talents in Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. It took time to assemble the ingredients, but once together, the team put its head down and built from that solid foundation into a championship-winning endeavour — and now, in 2025, it’s doing it again. Only bigger and better than before.

That’s not just because of its foundation, either; it’s thanks to its operating procedure. While many Formula 1 teams prioritise one of its two drivers in the championship and utilise the second as a team player, McLaren has gone another route. Norris and Piastri are allowed — encouraged, even — to battle for position (so long as they race respectfully, that is).

If you compare McLaren to other recently successful outfits like Mercedes and Red Bull, there’s no reason the Woking-based team should work.

It’s not a works team, so it lacks the institutional support and bespoke engineering talent of its competitors. But rather than see its customer status as a weakness, McLaren has used it as a strength. It’s independent, fiercely autonomous, and rebellious.

It hasn’t placed all its eggs in one driver’s basket, but rather than create rampant in-fighting, it has developed two exceptional, world-championship worthy talents.

It pinpointed its weaknesses in strategy and rectified them with precision.

It saw the reintroduction of ground effect not as a threat, but as an opportunity.

It even expanded its reach into other forms of motorsport, like IndyCar and Formula E, as a way to diversify its portfolio and build brand recognition all around the world.

McLaren’s impressive performance in Austria is yet another example of McLaren’s power.

Norris dominated qualifying before Piastri rocketed off the line with a strong start, triggering a daring wheel-to-wheel battle in some of the most compelling action of the season. And they ended the day one-two.

There’s always more to learn in F1, but that’s not because McLaren is making mistakes; it’s because it is rewriting the playbook for running a Formula 1 team, one race at a time.

The fact that it’s dominating the standings proves its experimentation is exactly what Formula 1 needs.