The 2025 Chinese Grand Prix was a race to forget for some teams, particularly Ferrari. Both Maranello drivers, celebrating the team’s 1100th GP in Shanghai, were disqualified due to two separate technical irregularities, an unprecedented event in Formula 1 history. Conversely, while it was not the first time two cars from the same team had been disqualified post-race for the same reason, the latest Chinese GP also entered the record books for entirely different reasons. Mercedes, for example, achieved its 300th podium, while McLaren secured its 50th one-two finish with Oscar Piastri’s victory, immediately followed by Lando Norris.
Interestingly, McLaren is now chasing Mercedes in this exclusive ranking, which is led by Ferrari with 87 one-twos. The Anglo-German outfit follows with 60, just ten ahead of McLaren. Throughout its history, McLaren has experienced both periods of absolute dominance and prolonged crises or gaps between successes.
McLaren’s first one-two dates back to the 1968 Canadian GP, when reigning world champion Denny Hulme won ahead of his teammate Bruce McLaren, the New Zealander who founded the team. During the 1970s, the team secured multiple victories, as evidenced by one Constructors’ and two Drivers’ Championships. However, curiously, McLaren had to wait until 1983 for its second-ever one-two, when John Watson won in Long Beach ahead of Niki Lauda after an incredible charge from 22nd on the grid, a record that remains unbeaten today.
That victory marked the beginning of McLaren’s golden era of one-two finishes, most of which featured Alain Prost in either first or second place. “The Professor” frequently shared the podium with Niki Lauda at first, but most notably with his great rival Ayrton Senna. Their legendary battles took place at the wheel of the almost unbeatable McLaren-Honda in the late 1980s. Another particularly memorable period for the Woking-based team was the late 1990s and early 2000s when its technical partnership with Mercedes propelled Mika Häkkinen to two consecutive world titles, along with multiple one-twos achieved with David Coulthard.
Following Ferrari’s dominant era with Michael Schumacher, McLaren returned to securing one-two finishes in 2005 with Montoya and Räikkönen, followed by four from reigning champion Fernando Alonso and rookie Lewis Hamilton in 2007. These were later followed by a trio of one-twos from Lewis Hamilton and Button in 2010, before a prolonged slump in results that lasted until the 2021 Italian GP, where Daniel Ricciardo surprisingly won ahead of Lando Norris. Since then, interestingly, McLaren has only returned to the top step of the podium last year in Hungary and this season in China—both times with Oscar Piastri first and Lando Norris second
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