The 2024 Formula 1 constructors’ championship battle was one of the best in recent history, with McLaren beating Ferrari to the top spot in Abu Dhabi.
McLaren entered the weekend on top with 640 points, leaving it 21 points ahead of its Italian rival, while the previous weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix saw reigning champion Red Bull eliminated from contention.
The finale came down to the wire, with McLaren's Lando Norris taking the win from Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, securing the British squad’s first title since 1998 when its star Mika Hakkinen also won his first of two back-to-back drivers’ championships. It took the title by just 14 points, with Red Bull in third behind by 77 points.
It was also quite a shock given the year started with Red Bull as the dominant force looking likely to claim a third title on the bounce.
Red Bull won seven of the opening 10 grands prix but were then outdeveloped by its rivals mid-season, leaving McLaren and Ferrari with the strongest cars.
This is the 67th constructors’ championship having started in 1958, eight years after the series commenced, as F1 wanted to recognise those who build and design the cars.
So here is all to know about the F1 constructors’ championship.
Which F1 team has won the most titles?
Ferrari has won the most F1 constructors’ championships with the Scuderia having clinched 16 titles, which is almost double that of nearest challengers Williams and McLaren.
The Scuderia took its first crown in 1961, a year that was dominated by Ferrari as it won five of eight grands prix meaning it clinched the title with three rounds remaining. Lotus finished runner-up winning the other three races, but nothing was a match for the 156 that year as Phil Hill won the drivers’ championship taking two of Ferrari’s victories.
Ferrari won another constructors’ title in the 1960s, but 1964 was much more closely fought as it claimed the crown on the final day pipping British rivals BRM and Lotus.
It continued to win titles in the following decades, but then a 16-year drought followed, ending in 1999, as Ferrari with the help of Michael Schumacher began a record-breaking run.
The team won six constructors’ championships on the bounce, an unprecedented streak that was not surpassed until Mercedes took eight consecutive titles from 2014 to 2021.
Given the constructors’ championship did not happen when Mercedes was first in the series (1954-55), they are the only eight titles it has won since the Silver Arrows made a comeback in 2010. That means Williams and McLaren have jointly the second-most championships with nine each, having dominated much of the 1980s and ‘90s between them.
Williams has not won since the turn of the century though, with Ferrari, Renault, Brawn, Red Bull, Mercedes and now McLaren all taking crowns from 2000. Red Bull was on course for its seventh championship this year until it suddenly dropped down the pecking order, while Lotus is the sixth team to have won five or more championships.
The British outfit was founded by the late great Colin Chapman and made its F1 debut in 1958, five years before it took its first constructors’ championship with 1963 being a double-winning season as Jim Clark claimed the drivers’ crown.
That was the first of seven constructors’ titles across two decades for Lotus, as its last championship came in 1978 with Mario Andretti at the wheel. But Chapman’s fatal heart attack in 1982 saw the demise of Lotus with the team leaving the championship altogether in 1994.
In total, there have been 15 winners of the F1 constructors’ championship with Mercedes being the last first-time winner in 2014.
Five years before also saw Brawn GP, which later became Mercedes, become a first-time winner with 2009 remaining the only season in which a team has taken the title in its debut campaign, as the innovative double-diffuser helped the British squad win eight grands prix with world champion Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello.
|
Constructor
|
Titles
|
Year(s)
|
|---|---|---|
|
Ferrari
|
16
|
1961, 1964, 1975-77, 1979, 1982-83, 1999-04, 2007-08
|
|
McLaren
|
9 |
1974, 1984-85, 1988-91, 1998, 2024
|
|
Williams
|
1980-81, 1986-87, 1992-94, 1996-97 | |
|
Mercedes
|
8 |
2014-2021
|
|
Lotus
|
7
|
1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1972-73, 1978
|
|
Red Bull
|
6
|
2010-13, 2022-23
|
|
Cooper
|
2
|
1959-60
|
|
Brabham
|
1966-67
|
|
|
Renault
|
2005-06
|
|
|
Vanwall
|
1
|
1958
|
|
BRM
|
1962
|
|
|
Matra
|
1969
|
|
|
Tyrrell
|
1971
|
|
|
Benetton
|
1995
|
|
|
Brawn
|
2009
|
Why do F1 drivers’ and constructors’ title wins differ?
The drivers’ title is the most high-profile championship in F1 as fans pay more attention to it, but it is actually the constructors’ crown that has a bigger influence on a team’s future.
That is because a squad earns money for where it finishes in the constructors’ championship, which adds together the points tallies of the drivers competing for that team in the year. For example, Red Bull won the 2023 title with a record-breaking 860 points, 575 of which came from world champion Max Verstappen and 285 from Sergio Perez.
While a driver will understandably care more about the drivers’ championship, they are still contributing to the constructors’ crown and sometimes, in Red Bull’s case, they can harm their team’s chance.
In 2021, for example, Verstappen clinched his maiden drivers' title yet Mercedes actually won the constructors’ championship because it had strong performances from both cars.
While Lewis Hamilton finished just eight points behind Verstappen, the seven-time world champion’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas was 36 points ahead of Perez meaning the Silver Arrows pipped Red Bull to the constructors’ crown by 28 points.
A similar situation has occurred in 2024. As ever, Verstappen has been strong for Red Bull but the Austrian outfit has failed to retain its constructors’ title due to poor performances from Perez, who finished eighth in the drivers’ standings while his team-mate clinched a fourth title.
It also means Verstappen has joined Nelson Piquet as the only drivers to have twice won the drivers' championship in a year their team didn't claim the constructors’ title. For Piquet it happened in 1981 and 1983 as his Brabham squad finished second and third respectively.
In 1981, Piquet’s team-mate was Hector Rebaque who had a very poor season contributing just 11 points towards Brabham’s tally of 61, allowing Williams to comfortably win the championship thanks to Alan Jones and Carlos Reutemann, who scored 46 and 49 points respectively.
Two years later meanwhile, Piquet’s team-mate was Riccardo Patrese who scored just 13 of Brabham’s 72 points. It resulted in world champions Ferrari and Renault coming ahead of the British squad thanks to all of their drivers finishing inside the championship top seven.
So, that shows why it is important to have a strong driver in both cars because teams arguably care more about the constructors’ title and a poor season from one side of the garage can harm a squad’s overall campaign.
How much prize money will teams earn after the 2024 F1 season?
Perez’s underperformance this year has proven costly for Red Bull, as it means the team is now facing an approximate $20million loss in prize money for its third-place finish in the championship and not first.
Every position counts in F1, whether it’s first, fifth or even last, because the higher up a team finishes the more money it will receive. And even though F1’s exact prize money split is secret, it is possible to gain a good estimation based on information in the public domain.
According to the Concorde Agreement, the contract which governs the championship, the team prize pot is 50% of F1’s commercial rights profit.
Teams do not always receive 50% though, as after a certain point of revenue it is believed that Formula One Management’s percentage share rises. In 2022, for example, F1 generated revenues of $2.57 billion resulting in the prize pot being $1.157b which is approximately 45%.
The payments are not split equally either as Ferrari, for example, receives an extra payment, about 5%, for its historical significance having competed in every season since F1’s first in 1950.
There are also bonuses for past success like winning the championship, so it is understood that the bonus payments equate to an estimated 25% leaving the rest for 10 teams to split.
So based on last year, where team payments are expected to have totalled $1.25-1.3b meaning the prize pot was $1b, Red Bull received around $140m for winning the championship ahead of runner-up Mercedes on $131m.
The prize pot then went all the way down to Haas, which finished last meaning the American squad is expected to have received $60m and a similar amount should go to Sauber in 2024.
In this article
Ed Hardy
Formula 1
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