Red Bull lose constructors’ championship lead for first time in two years · RaceFans

Red Bull have lost their place on top of the constructors’ championship standings for the first time in more than two years.

The team won the constructors’ title twice during that time. However with seven rounds remaining in 2024, McLaren have displaced them at the top of the standings.

McLaren have won the constructors’ championship eight times before. However their last triumph came in 1998, seven years before Red Bull entered F1. The reigning champions took their sixth title last year.

Red Bull looked on course to win the title for the third year in a row when they racked up 239 points over the first six rounds. At that stage McLaren were only third in the standings with 124 points – little more than half the leaders’ tally.

However that round in Miami was a watershed moment in the championship. McLaren introduced a significant upgrade for their car which, aided by a timely Safety Car period, helped Lando Norris to victory in that weekend’s grand prix.

They’ve built on that since. In the following 11 rounds, Red Bull have only out-scored them once.

The pressure applied by McLaren led Red Bull to briefly reconsider their driver line-up. Following the British Grand Prix, where Sergio Perez failed to score for the third time in five races, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted his performance was “unsustainable”.

However two races later, in which time Perez contributed a pair of seventh places, Horner told Red Bull’s staff the team would not change its driver line-up before the end of the year. That decision appears to be hurting them, as Max Verstappen is responsible for a much larger share of Red Bull’s points total than either of McLaren’s drivers are.

It is the first time McLaren has led the constructors’ championship since the 2014 Australian Grand Prix, more then 10 years ago. They finished second to Red Bull in the title race in 2010 and 2011.

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