For the first time since Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard combined to deliver glory in 1998, McLaren is on the cusp of winning the F1 constructors' championship.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have claimed five wins in the MCL38 machine to take McLaren to within a first constructors' title in the lifetime of either its drivers - and a ninth overall, drawing it level with Williams - who itself last won in 1997.
McLaren did score the most points in 2007, 218 to Ferrari's 209, but it was disqualified over the spy-gate scandal, handing the Scuderia the 15th of its 16 titles to date.
Heading into the Qatar Grand Prix weekend, there are 103 points left on the table through 44 apiece in the Lusail race and the season-finale in Abu Dhabi, with a further 15 up for grabs in the Qatar sprint - an event McLaren finished one-three at in 2023.
The nearest challengers to McLaren are Ferrari, who took 12 points out of the team in Las Vegas to reduce the deficit to 24 from 36 - or exactly what it would need to do.
Red Bull are also in the mix, but are some 53 points behind McLaren, and given the alarming slump in form of Sergio Perez, makes a third straight Milton Keynes crown a long shot.
Find out below what McLaren must do to win the 2024 F1 constructors' championship in Qatar!
How McLaren can win the F1 constructors' championship in Qatar
As the championship stands, McLaren currently has 608 points with Ferrari 24 behind on 584 and Red Bull 29 further back on 555.
After the Qatar weekend, there will be just 44 points remaining on the table in Abu Dhabi, meaning to win the constructors' in Qatar, McLaren must out-score Ferrari by a total of 21 points.
This would give it an unassailable lead of 45 points heading to the UAE.
If the gap is exactly 44 points after the Lusail weekend, the title would still not be decided as Ferrari could win on countback, provided it scored a maximum haul at Yas Marina and McLaren failed to score a single point.
In the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix event, McLaren scored a total of 47 points through a one-three in the sprint with Piastri winning and a two-three in the grand prix behind newly crowned then three-time champion Max Verstappen.
Ferrari only scored 13 points across the weekend with a sixth for Carlos Sainz in the sprint and a fifth for Charles Leclerc in the race itself, although this must be caveated with the fact that Sainz did not take the start following a fuel system problem aboard his car.
A repeat of such a 34 point difference this weekend would make McLaren 2024 F1 constructors' champions.
As for Red Bull, it must out-score McLaren by at least nine points to remain in the hunt to retain its 2023 title.
Top three in F1 constructors' championship heading into Qatar
| Position | Team | Points | Gap to P1 | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | McLaren | 608 | - | 5 |
| 2nd | Ferrari | 584 | -24 | 5 |
| 3rd | Red Bull | 555 | -53 | 8 |
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding, as they dissect the Las Vegas GP and look ahead to Qatar! Max Verstappen's title success was a main talking point, as was the mounting pressure on McLaren in the F1 constructors' title fight.
Rather watch the podcast? Then click here!
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