Prior to the summer break, the Woking-based outfit had taken 11 victories from 14 rounds, with Piastri responsible for six of those as he led the way in the Drivers’ Standings. The resurgence of Verstappen and Red Bull, however, slightly dented their momentum in the second half.
This also proved to be a particularly tough stage of the campaign for Piastri, who finished off the podium for six consecutive rounds – though he did still help the squad to seal the Teams’ title in Singapore. In contrast, Norris embarked on something of a comeback, scoring back-to-back wins in Mexico and Sao Paulo which saw him retake the championship lead in the former.
Despite both drivers remaining in title contention through to the end, McLaren still faced some difficult moments across the final rounds, including a double disqualification in Las Vegas and the loss of a possible victory in Qatar – a weekend in which Piastri looked to have bounced back from his tricky spell – owing to a strategy misfire.