While Mercedes and Red Bull Racing finished comfortably in first and second in the 2021 championship, McLaren took considerable steps to close the gap with the two leading teams. However, it failed to overcome the Italian team Ferrari who finished third with 48 points above the British team.

The start of the 2021 season seemed promising for the orange team, two excellent drivers accompany the British team's project that consisted of achieving third place in the constructors' championship, on the side of Lando Norris, the young 22-year-old driver caught everyone's attention, when his performance with the MCL35M left promising numbers, due to the perseverance of the driver, who managed to finish within the points in 15 consecutive grand prix, adding a total of 113 points for McLaren.

Daniel Ricciardo, an experienced driver who was new to the orange team, did not generate positive results compared to his teammate Norris, due to the late adaptation that the Australian driver made. The 32-year-old failed to enter the points, causing his confidence to crumble with each Grand Prix. However, Ricciardo returns to victory after two years without winning. In the Monza Grand Prix Ricciardo manages to give the British team the only victory of the year, in addition to achieving the only 1-2 of the 2021 season with his teammate.

Qualifying session

There were a total of 22 Grands Prix, where Lando Norris stood out, managing to enter Q3 on 21 occasions achieving an average position of 6.5. His only DNF in the qualifying session was at the Belgian GP, ​​despite making an excellent drive in the rain, in Q3 the driver loses control of the car, leaving the young McLaren driver with no chance of getting pole position. This situation changed in the Russian Grand Prix where he achieved his only pole position and being an exceptional qualifying day for the team as Ricciardo was in fifth position in said grand prix. However, Ricciardo's numbers leave the Australian driver with a regular season, where his average position was 9.2, entering Q3 14 times, 7 less than his teammate Norris. His best qualifying position was at the Belgian GP, ​​where he managed to position himself in fourth position.

Race

The results in the race continue to favour Lando Norris who managed to enter the podium in four (4) occasions, achieving his best position in the Italian Grand Prix, placing second behind his teammate Daniel Ricciardo. The English driver only had one DNF (Hungary GP) that ended his great average in the first half of the season, after that the driver did not return to the top of the best 5, finishing in the drivers’ championship in sixth position with 160 points. Unlike his teammate the Australian driver who achieved the only victory for Mclaren, he finished with an average 8.09 adding 115 points for the team. Daniel had, like his teammate, a retirement (Brazil GP) finishing in eighth position in the drivers' championship.