SINGAPORE — McLaren secured its second successive Formula 1 constructors’ championship at the Singapore Grand Prix.

The team successfully defended the title with Sunday’s result, which saw Lando Norris finish on the podium and drivers’ championship leader Oscar Piastri finish one place behind in fourth.

McLaren’s dominant season has made the championship a formality since the August summer break. The team has claimed 12 victories this year — seven of which were 1-2 finishes.

The team has not won a drivers’ championship since Lewis Hamilton’s maiden title in 2008 but both its drivers are fighting to win it this year. Piastri leads Norris in the championship by 22 points after Singapore, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen 63 behind Piastri in third place.

McLaren’s turnaround has been one of the remarkable stories of Formula 1’s modern era. When CEO Zak Brown took over in 2016, McLaren was in a failing partnership with Honda and regularly failing to progress out of the first session of qualifying.

The team has since cycled through engine deals with Honda and current partner Mercedes, which has proved to be a winning partnership. Brown oversaw the team’s first win in a decade at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.

“Pretty awesome,” Brown said of the back-to-back titles after the Singapore Grand Prix. “Unbelievable team here, unbelievable team back at the factory all the men and women have done such an awesome job. The leadership Andrea [Stella] has provided to the race team, the whole leadership team, our owners, our shareholders it’s such a team effort and it’s pretty awesome to go back-to-back — it’s been a while since we’ve done it.”

Team boss Andrea Stella, hired the following year, has been a key part in the puzzle in McLaren displacing Red Bull as the grid’s leading outfit. After the race, Stella said: “It’s an incredible emotion I want to share it with the team and thank them for the incredible work. Even with six races to go which was unbelievable but that’s thanks to the great work that has happened at McLaren.”

Former Red Bull designer Rob Marshall has also played an important role in overseeing the class-leading cars of the past two years.

Drivers Norris and Piastri are both tied down with McLaren long term, until at least 2027 and 2028, respectively.