McLaren reigns: seven wins from nine races on the Old Continent
For many years now, the Italian Grand Prix has marked the end of the European part of the Formula 1 season. In the early days, Monza was often the end of the championship, or there would only be a couple of races that were later on the calendar. As recently as 20 years ago, the Old Continent was home to over 50% of the rounds. Today, it's almost the opposite with only nine of this year's Grands Prix taking place in Europe out of a total of 24.
As McLaren seems set to take both titles, it can already claim the entirely fictitious crown of Champion of Europe. The Woking squad has scored 359 of the available 617 points to date and won seven of the nine races. Strangely, the only two races that slipped through the grasp of the war machine run by Zak Brown and Andrea Stella were the Italian rounds in Imola and Monza, both falling to Max Verstappen who clearly loves a spot of Italian racing. Supermax has scored nearly all Red Bull Racing's points in Europe, Tsunoda picking up a mere three of their 116 points thanks to a tenth place in Imola and a ninth in Zandvoort. The Japanese driver is matched by Andrea Kimi Antonelli who also has only a tenth place in Budapest and a ninth in Monza from the European races. Red Bull Racing has however outscored Mercedes in these nine races by 37 points, as Max Verstappen has three podium finishes – the two in Italy and one in his home race – while George Russell has only one in Budapest.
As for Ferrari, their performances in and out of Europe have been pretty similar. They scored 168 in the Old Continent for an average of 18.66 per race, whereas in the rest of the world it's 16. This puts them second in the “European Championship” but they will have to fight for that position come the end of the year, as only 41 points separate McLaren's three closest pursuers. The Ferrari drivers have split the points a bit more equally than the other two, as Leclerc has brought home 100 points and Hamilton a further 68. Mercedes and Red Bull definitely need Verstappen's and Russell's team-mates to up their game if they want to finish second in the Constructors'.
As for the McLaren pair, they are almost equal on points scored in Europe, with Piastri on 181, just three ahead of Norris, who suffered from failing to score in Zandvoort, the only time he has not been on the podium, whereas Piastri has never been outside the top three. Norris has actually won more of these races (4 to 3).
When it comes to the rest of the field, the best of the rest in Europe is Racing Bulls, with 53 points. The Faenza team is seventh in the standings, as it only picked up eight points from the seven non-European races to date. Williams is sixth on 48 ahead of Sauber on 45 and Aston Martin on 43, while the final two teams in the real championship are Haas on 22 and Alpine on 13.
Aside from the drivers in the top teams, the one who has done best in Europe is Alex Albon (40) ahead of Isack Hadjar (33).
