Story byHow McLaren Plans to Remain atop F1’s Summit Bradley Collyer - PA ImagesPhillip HortonThu, February 12, 2026 at 8:44 PM UTC·6 min readNot since 1999 has McLaren entered a Formula 1 season striving to defend both titles, after Lando Norris added a maiden Drivers’ crown to McLaren’s second straight Constructors’ championship in 2025. McLaren has now climbed the mountain—so can they stay there?McLaren has been indisputably the success story of the last regulatory cycle. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBack in 2022 it was entrenched in the midfield, aspiring to extricate itself from a long-running slumber, and a sequence of poor performances and results prompted a strategic rethink that eventually bore fruit mid-2023. From then onwards McLaren has been at the sharp end of the field, resulting in back-to-back Constructors’ Championships, and a Drivers’ Championship for Lando Norris. Now the ambition is to defend both of those titles.“We are champions, but we don't carry being champions into 2026,” McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella said.