McLaren secures 2024 F1 title with 25% wins: first time in 40 years, only Ferrari had achieved it. McLaren needed just six wins out of 24 in 2024 F1 season.

2024, the year of records
The season concluded a month ago in Abu Dhabi will remain a benchmark for years in terms of top-level competition and the distribution of victories among different teams. Max Verstappen, for example, secured his fourth consecutive title with a Red Bull team that failed to claim the top two positions in the Constructors’ Championship (something that had only happened before with Nelson Piquet and Keke Rosberg). This speaks volumes about both the Dutchman’s strength and the missed opportunities by the team that won the Constructors’ title: McLaren.

The Woking-based team secured six wins out of 24 races in 2024, exactly 25%, yet still won the Constructors’ Championship, thanks to a car that was overall superior from Miami onwards. Such a scenario had not occurred in the past 40 years.

To find a Constructors’ Championship won with such a low percentage of race victories, one must go back to 1982, a year that stands apart due to the tragedies and injuries that balanced the season. That Constructors’ title went to Ferrari, even though the team achieved only three wins out of 16 races (Imola, Zandvoort, Hockenheim), or 18.8% of the total. Highlighting the uncertainty of that championship was Nico Rosberg’s ultimate victory, despite his single-season win in Dijon, driving a Williams team that finished fourth in the Constructors’ standings—a unique and nearly unrepeatable case.

Percentages similar to McLaren’s in 2024 occurred in 1977, with Ferrari again playing the leading role. The Maranello team needed just four wins out of 17 races (Interlagos, Kyalami, Hockenheim, and Zandvoort, or 23.5%) to secure the Constructors’ title. Unlike in 1982 and 2024, they also claimed the Drivers’ Championship, which was Niki Lauda’s last title with Ferrari.