How McLaren triumphed in F1 2020's best battle

By:

Luke Smith

Jan 1, 2021, 4:07 PM

Three years ago, the famous Woking squad finished ninth in the constructors' standings and was in a state of disarray. But in 2020, its recovery continued in style with a smash-and-grab of third place that bodes well for its short-term prospects

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Off the back of its recovery to fourth place in the constructors' championship in 2019, McLaren entered 2020 braced for a tougher challenge to head Formula 1's midfield. The emergence of Racing Point's 'pink Mercedes' in Barcelona and a strong showing from Renault throughout testing left some McLaren team members fearing it could drop as low as sixth or seventh in the standings.

Yet what followed was the best season in McLaren's recent history. Rarely did the team have the third-fastest car (on raw pace it was fifth, just behind Ferrari), yet it was able to beat its faster rivals to snare third in the standings, its best finish since 2012.

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Luke Smith

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Luke Smith is Autosport’s Formula 1 reporter. Luke has been working in F1 as a journalist since 2013, initially alongside a History degree at University College London. Luke served as the lead F1 writer at American broadcaster NBC Sports from 2013-17 before spending two years as the F1 Editor for Crash.net. Luke joined Autosport for the 2020 season.

Luke is also a contributor to The New York Times for its F1 special reports, and has previously worked with Al Jazeera and CNBC, as well as hosting FIA press conferences. Outside of F1, Luke is a fan of sports and music, with an ever-growing vinyl collection, and has being bitten by the running bug in recent years. He also runs a surprisingly popular blog reviewing the often-terrible media centre coffee from his F1 travels.