McLaren Reveals Key to Double Title Success

McLaren enters 2026 as defending champions, but it is hard to imagine that a decade ago the Woking-based team was nearly at the bottom of the standings. The journey from crisis to glory has become one of the most dramatic comeback stories in modern Formula 1.

In 2015, the first year of the ill-fated Honda partnership, McLaren could only manage ninth in the constructors' standings. A year later they climbed to sixth, but internal turmoil was heating up. A power struggle culminated in the ousting of CEO Ron Dennis after 37 years, replaced by Zak Brown. Team Principal Eric Boullier resigned in 2018 as part of Brown's complete restructuring.

The final major change came in late 2022 when Andrea Stella took over from Andreas Seidl. Since then, McLaren's transformation has been remarkable, culminating in back-to-back Constructors' Championships in 2024 and 2025, plus Lando Norris's maiden Drivers' title last year.

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In an interview with Sky F1, Singh, a key team member, highlighted the seismic cultural shift under Stella's leadership. "The main thing is just the leadership changed with Andrea and Zak, and I think that's just empowered everyone to go about their jobs," he said. "There's no blame. I don't know how easy it is to look over that. But if you're doing things that are quite stressful that can go the wrong way because they're based off percentages, like doing the strategy, you sometimes get caught up in thinking, 'oh, what will people think if I make a mistake'."

McLaren's approach to strategy and decision-making under Stella has become a case study in the paddock. Senior figures repeatedly point to a culture that prioritises collective learning over individual blame, even when high-profile errors have cost results. That philosophy faced its biggest test in 2026, given the MCL40's struggles in the first half of the year before Norris's win at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Singh confirmed that race errors and decisions are viewed collectively, calling the working style "empowering". "There's none of that here. You just get on with constantly improving. You don't worry if there's a bad result. If there's a bad decision, obviously you try and dig into it and try and understand it and improve. But seriously, there's no blame whatsoever. You come out of races where there've been mistakes. Good things, bad things, and you treat them the same way. So that's really empowering."

This is a stark contrast to the McLaren of a decade ago, when internal politics and leadership upheaval defined the team's public image as much as its results. The journey from ninth in 2015 to reigning World Champions in 2026 stands as one of the most significant turnarounds in modern F1, consistently credited by personnel to the cultural reset overseen by Brown and Stella rather than any single technical breakthrough.