6 Rounds Remain: How Verstappen’s Singapore GP Win Reshapes the P3 Battle
The battle for third place in the 2026 Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship has become the defining storyline of the closing weeks of the season.
With six rounds remaining, McLaren hold a slender seven-point advantage over Red Bull, 339 points to 332, after Max Verstappen’s victory in Singapore dramatically reduced a margin that once appeared comfortable.
Mercedes and Ferrari Set the Pace
At the head of the standings, the picture is considerably clearer. Mercedes lead with 578 points, while Ferrari sit second on 444, leaving a gap of 134 points between the two. Third place, however, remains genuinely unresolved, and it is there that the championship’s remaining tension is concentrated.
How Red Bull Closed a 76-Point Gap
The scale of Red Bull’s recovery is what makes the contest so notable. Following the Spanish Grand Prix, McLaren held a cushion of 76 points over their rivals. That advantage has since eroded to single figures, a swing of 69 points across the intervening rounds.
Momentum, in the language of the paddock, has moved decisively toward the team from Milton Keynes.
Red Bull’s case rests on consistency at the sharp end of the field. The team have collected 11 podium finishes this season, compared with seven for McLaren, a statistic that reflects how regularly Verstappen and his team-mate Isack Hadjar have placed themselves among the leading finishers.
McLaren, meanwhile, rely on the pairing of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, both capable of delivering strong results, yet outscored by their rivals over recent rounds.
Six Rounds Left to Decide Third Place
The calendar offers little room for error. Six rounds remain: the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas from October 23 to 25, followed by Mexico City, São Paulo, Las Vegas, Qatar and the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Should Red Bull outscore McLaren in Austin, they will move into third place for the first time this season, a symbolic shift that would place the pressure squarely on McLaren for the remainder of the campaign.
Seven points is a narrow margin by any measure. A race victory is worth 25 points, and a single well-executed weekend can therefore redraw the order entirely.
A strong result for one car combined with a retirement, a penalty or a poor strategic call for the other can transform the standings within hours. With a further six race weekends to come, the margin represents less a lead than a temporary advantage.
What McLaren and Red Bull Must Do Next
For McLaren, the task is to stabilise. Protecting third place does not require heroics so much as discipline: maximising the points available to both cars at every round, avoiding unforced errors and ensuring that Norris and Piastri finish inside the top ten as a matter of routine.
Teams that defend a narrow lead in the constructors’ standings tend to do so through the accumulation of solid double-scoring weekends rather than isolated victories.
For Red Bull, the equation is different but no less demanding. Verstappen’s recent form has supplied the momentum, yet the constructors’ classification is decided by both cars, and Hadjar’s contribution will be as important as that of his more experienced team-mate.
Every point the second car adds reduces the dependence on a single driver and strengthens the team’s claim to the position.
Finishing third carries weight beyond the numbers on the table. Constructors’ classification influences the financial distribution among teams and shapes the narrative that carries into the winter, when development priorities, recruitment and investment decisions are made.
For two organisations with the ambition of returning to the very front, the final order matters both commercially and psychologically.
Why the Points Arithmetic Matters
Understanding how the arithmetic works helps explain why neither team can afford to relax. The Constructors’ Championship totals the points scored by both drivers of each team across every round.
A team can therefore gain ground even when its lead driver has an ordinary weekend, provided the second car finishes inside the points.
Conversely, a double retirement can cost a team a large number of points in a single afternoon, which is why reliability and race-day execution are as valuable as outright speed.
The United States Grand Prix therefore arrives as an immediate test of both teams’ direction. A Red Bull result ahead of McLaren in Austin would invert the order and hand the initiative to the team currently in fourth.
A McLaren result that restores some distance, by contrast, would force Red Bull to reassess how much margin they can realistically recover over the final five rounds.
The scale of the gap to the rest of the field confirms that third place is a two-team contest. Racing Bulls occupy fifth on 100 points, more than 230 points behind Red Bull, which means that neither McLaren nor Red Bull faces any realistic threat from below. The outcome will be settled between them alone.
Current Standings and Decisive Factors
For clarity, the current Constructors’ Championship order at the head of the table is as follows. Mercedes lead on 578 points, Ferrari are second on 444, McLaren are third on 339 and Red Bull are fourth on 332.
These figures reflect results through the Singapore Grand Prix and will change after each remaining round.
Three factors are likely to prove decisive. The first is the performance of each team’s second car, because the constructors’ classification rewards depth rather than individual brilliance.
The second is reliability, since a single mechanical failure can undo weeks of careful accumulation. The third is strategic decision-making under pressure, where a well-timed pit stop or a prudent tyre choice can be worth several positions.
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Final Stretch Outlook
McLaren enter the final stretch in front, but only just. Red Bull arrive with momentum, the podium record and a recent victory behind them.
With six rounds left and only seven points separating the two teams, the fight for third looks set to continue until the closing laps of the season in Abu Dhabi.
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