5 things that have changed since McLaren last won the Constructors' championship
McLaren is now the 2024 F1 Constructors' champion. The team had Lando Norris win the race in Abu Dhabi and fend off both Ferraris to seal the title.
There is, however, an even bigger significance to this, as this is McLaren's first Constructors title in the 21st century. The team has been more or less operating near the front throughout this century, but reaching the top of the mountain as a Constructor has been a task that has not been fulfilled by the team.
The last time the team won the Constructors' championship was in 1998, and at the time the world was a very different place. Much has changed in the F1 world since McLaren last won the title; let's take a look.
#1 Red Bull and Mercedes have joined the grid and became top teams
Two of the top teams on the current grid were not even part of the sport in 1998. During that time, the only Mercedes presence on the paddock was in the form of an engine supplier for McLaren. Red Bull, on the other hand, was just a sponsor.
Red Bull Racing joined the grid in 2005 as a Constructor, while Mercedes did so in 2010.
#2 Michael Schumacher and the 'Ferrari dream team' take shape, dominate F1, and then slowly move on
In 1998, there was no concept of a Ferrari dream team. Michael Schumacher had joined the Italian team in 1996, and success had not come as easily as he would have wanted.
The dream team was still developing at the time, and the standing that McLaren had on the grid as a squad that had achieved a lot of success dwarfed the Italian team at the time. Since 1998, however, the Ferrari dream team took effect, became dominant for half a decade, and then in the years gone by, it disintegrated.
Except for Rory Byrne, who still has an office in Maranello, everyone else has moved on.
#3 Ron Dennis has moved on from McLaren
In 1998, McLaren and Ron Dennis were one and the same thing. He was the team leader, and he was someone who had taken the team to such heights.
Dennis, however, left the squad in 2017, and his position was taken over by Zak Brown, and now he's the one who has helped the team grow this much since 2017 when it was P9 in the championship.
#4 Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen have debuted and retired
It's actually interesting that since the last time the team won the title in 1998, two pristine talents completed their entire careers. Kimi Raikkonen, a future McLaren driver himself, had not even started racing in F1 when the team won the title.
Since then, the driver raced with the Woking-based squad, moved to Ferrari, won a championship, and then left the sport for a while, only to come back and race for another decade.
Similarly, Sebastian Vettel started his career in 2007 and ended it in 2022, and during this entire period, the Woking-based squad was unable to win the title.
#5 Adrian Newey left McLaren and built a dynasty with Red Bull
What many don't remember about 1998 is that it was Adrian Newey's first season with the team, where the car was entirely built by him.
Newey was a prized possession in 1998 already, and the car built by him that season was just on a different level. Early success for the partnership gave an indication that the two were destined for big things. As it turned out, after the Drivers' title win in 1999, the brand couldn't enjoy much championship success with Newey in the team.
The Aero wizard did, however, end up leaving the team and joining Red Bull, building a dynasty with the Austrian brand and winning multiple titles.