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Formula 1: McLaren win 2019 ‘best of the rest’ title

By Asher Fair

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - NOVEMBER 16: Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren F1 Team MCL34 Renault on track during qualifying for the F1 Grand Prix of Brazil at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace on November 16, 2019 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - NOVEMBER 16: Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren F1 Team MCL34 Renault on track during qualifying for the F1 Grand Prix of Brazil at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace on November 16, 2019 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images) /
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McLaren have secured the “best of the rest” title for the 2019 Formula 1 season with their fourth place finish in the constructor standings.

Entering the 2019 Formula 1 season, McLaren were in the midst of a rough stretch of seasons. They had not finished in the top five in the constructor standings since they finished in fifth place in the 2014 season, which was the season that featured their most recent podium finish.

Additionally, the Woking-based team had not finished in the top four since they finished in third in the 2012 season, which was and still is the season that featured their most recent victory.

But the 2019 season proved to be a season of resurgence for McLaren, and they capped it off with an unofficial “best of the rest” title with their fourth place finish in the constructor standings, and they did so in quite a dominant fashion over the rest of the mid-pack.

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The team finished the season with 145 points, 54 points clear of fifth place Renault with 91. Behind Renault in sixth were Scuderia Toro Rosso with 85 points. SportPesa Racing Point finished in seventh with 75 points ahead of Alfa Romeo Racing in eighth with 57, Haas in ninth with 28, and finally, lowly ROKiT Williams Racing in 10th with one.

McLaren technically had this title locked up entering the season finale, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, at Yas Marina Circuit, as they entered it 49 points ahead of Renault; a maximum of 44 points are on the table for each team in each race.

But they did not let up, once again leading the mid-pack in scoring. Norris finished this 55-lap race around the 21-turn, 3.451-mile (5.554-kilometer) Yas Marina Circuit road course on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in eighth place to score four points while Sainz finished in 10th to score one.

Sainz capped off his season by winning the unofficial “best of the rest” title among drivers with his sixth place finish in the standings. He recorded the team’s first podium finish in more than five years with his third place finish in the season’s penultimate race two weeks ago at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, the Brazilian Grand Prix.

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With the 2019 Formula 1 season having been a season of resurgence for McLaren and a dominant season over the rest of the mid-pack, how much more are they capable of accomplishing? Can they contend for podium finishes and perhaps victories in the near future? The 2020 season, which is slated to be the first 22-race season in Formula 1 history, is scheduled to get underway with the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit on Sunday, March 15.

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