Although it has not officially been sealed, McLaren are destined to retain their world championship crown and need just a handful of points to seal the title during this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix.
But, behind them, the gaps are slender between second, third and fourth, with millions of pounds at stake for each and every position.
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How Things Stand
After scoring 30 points, with a second and fourth-placed finishes, Mercedes overtook Ferrari for second place in the constructors’.
Meanwhile Red Bull, who now mathematically cannot win the 2025 constructors’ championship, are just 14 points behind Ferrari after Max Verstappen won back-to-back races in Italy and Azerbaijan.
2. Mercedes (290)
3. Ferrari (286)
4. Red Bull (272)
What furthers Red Bull’s optimism to even reach second in the constructors’ is the strong points haul which Yuki Tsunoda gathered during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, finishing in sixth.
Although that is a world away from the level that Verstappen is operating at, who McLaren fear is an existing threat in the drivers’ championship, it is ensuring that Red Bull walk away with the most points of any team when Verstappen is winning.
Admittedly, that is one good result within a series of disappointing ones, as the Japanese driver is under heavy pressure and has a fight to keep his Red Bull drive for 2026, but the occasional eight points could be the difference between second and fourth in the championship, after Abu Dhabi.
With Verstappen, who has scored 255 of Red Bull’s 272 points, it is clear what one side of the garage will be delivering week in, week out. But if the RB21’s uptick in form is permanent, then they have a chance of still finishing second to McLaren.
To a lesser extent, Mercedes are slowly creeping away from the limitations of just one driver doing the heavy lifting and scoring the team’s points, with Kimi Antonelli getting on top of the W16 again, and coming close to a podium in Baku.
In the six race weekends after his breakthrough podium, in Canada, he scored just three points. Meanwhile, George Russell has scored in every race bar one in 2025.
During the heart of the European season, after their win in Canada, Mercedes reverted to different suspension setups with one upgraded spec causing instability into high-load corners. This particularly sapped the confidence of Antonelli, but it appears the worst of that form has passed.
With Russell scoring seven podiums this year, one less than Verstappen, the German constructor have a driver who will consistently turn things around, as evidenced with his run to second in Baku, after nearly dropping out of the event with illness.
Ferrari’s miserable 2025 continued with a poor showing in Azerbaijan, as both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton qualified lower than expected; before racing to P8 and P9.
Although Leclerc and Hamilton have been largely consistent points-scorers, the Brit has yet to stand on the podium in 2025 and Leclerc is not able to reach the results of Verstappen and Russell. That is not a mark against Leclerc, who has been dynamite at times this year.
But with a limited peak, being the only top four team not to have won a race, and seemingly-endless troughs, the squad need to return to their consistent, albeit disappointing, ways if they are to finish second.
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