McLaren’s 83-point F1 lead over Red Bull has almost disappeared. Who will be third?

News Summary

• Red Bull has reduced McLaren’s advantage from 83 to seven points across the last three grands prix.
• The team scored 102 points against McLaren’s 33 in Azerbaijan, Bahrain and Singapore.
• Red Bull needs to outscore McLaren by eight points to move ahead outright at the United States Grand Prix.

Red Bull has transformed the battle for third place in the 2026 Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship, reducing McLaren’s advantage from 83 points after the Italian Grand Prix to just seven following Max Verstappen’s consecutive victories in Malaysia and Singapore.

McLaren remains third with 339 points, but Red Bull is now fourth on 332 after a remarkable three-race recovery. The Austrian team has scored 102 points across Azerbaijan, Bahrain and Singapore, while its British rival has managed only 33.

The difference is particularly striking because McLaren entered the second half of the championship with a comfortable advantage, strengthened by a 43-point weekend at Zandvoort. Its lead increased to 83 points at Monza, only for Red Bull to reverse almost the entire deficit over the following three rounds.

Red Bull has recovered 76 points relative to McLaren since Italy, leaving the two teams separated by the smallest margin they have faced since the opening stages of the season.

How Red Bull erased McLaren’s 83-point advantage

The turnaround began in Azerbaijan, where George Russell won for Mercedes and Verstappen finished second. Red Bull collected 33 points, while McLaren failed to score after a difficult weekend for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

The following race at Sepang produced another substantial swing. Verstappen secured Red Bull’s first victory with its own power unit, developed in partnership with Ford, and the team collected 35 points against McLaren’s ten.

Singapore completed the recovery. Verstappen won again, while Red Bull accumulated 34 points and McLaren scored 23.

The three results reduced McLaren’s advantage from 76 points after the Spanish Grand Prix to seven after Singapore.

The wider four-race comparison, beginning after Monza, shows the full extent of the reversal: an 83-point lead has almost disappeared without Red Bull needing to overtake McLaren on outright season-long performance.

McLaren’s difficulties have included a scoreless Azerbaijan weekend and a collision between Norris and Piastri during the Singapore sprint, while Red Bull has become increasingly consistent.

Red Bull vs McLaren: the complete 2026 points comparison

The championship standings after 17 rounds show how different the two teams’ seasons have been.

McLaren was the stronger points-scoring team before the summer break, averaging 20.18 points per round compared with Red Bull’s 16.36.

Since the championship resumed at Zandvoort, however, Red Bull has increased its average to 25.33 points per round, while McLaren’s has slipped to 19.50.

That represents an improvement of approximately 54.8% in Red Bull’s average points haul, compared with a decline of 3.4% for McLaren.

The contrast is even greater over the last three rounds, when Red Bull averaged 34 points per event and McLaren just 11.

Those figures are consistent with GRANDE PRÊMIO’s comparison of the teams that gained and lost the most momentum after the 2026 summer break.

What does Red Bull need to overtake McLaren in Austin?

The mathematical situation is straightforward.

Red Bull must score at least eight points more than McLaren at the United States Grand Prix to move ahead outright, assuming no subsequent changes to the classification.

A seven-point gain would leave the teams level, with the championship order determined by the FIA’s countback system.

With six grands prix remaining, Red Bull needs an average net gain of just over one point per round to eliminate its current deficit.

That does not mean the Austrian team is guaranteed to finish third. McLaren still has opportunities to respond, particularly as the championship moves to circuits with different technical demands.

The United States Grand Prix could nevertheless produce the first change of position between the two teams since the opening phase of the season.

Verstappen’s recovery is not Red Bull’s only advantage

Verstappen has been central to the turnaround, but Red Bull’s Constructors’ Championship campaign has also depended on the contributions of its other drivers.

The Dutchman has scored 221 points in 2026, while Isack Hadjar has accumulated 97. Liam Lawson also contributed 14 points during his temporary spell at Red Bull, when he substituted for Hadjar.

Together, those contributions account for the team’s 332 championship points.

McLaren’s 339 points have been scored by Norris and Piastri, who have accumulated 201 and 138 respectively.

The distinction is important because the Constructors’ Championship rewards the combined results of both cars. Verstappen’s victories have driven Red Bull’s recovery, but Hadjar’s ability to score consistently could become decisive during the remaining rounds.

McLaren, meanwhile, has benefited from a more balanced distribution of points between its drivers, although its recent results have fallen short of expectations.

McLaren’s Austin upgrades face a decisive test

McLaren has acknowledged that its current car is no longer consistently among the three fastest in Formula 1.

Team principal Andrea Stella has identified areas where the team needs to improve, while Norris has highlighted handling and performance limitations that have complicated its recent weekends.

The team is preparing further developments for the United States Grand Prix, hoping to recover some of the performance lost to Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari.

As GRANDE PRÊMIO reported, McLaren’s Austin upgrade package will face an important test as Red Bull threatens its championship position.

However, points gained through retirements, incidents and sprint results do not necessarily provide a complete measure of car performance.

Red Bull’s recent advantage has been substantial, but the final six rounds will test whether its progress can be sustained across a wider range of circuits.

The next race takes place at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin on October 23–25, followed by Mexico City, São Paulo, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The full United States Grand Prix schedule and international start times are available on GRANDE PRÊMIO.