They were very much second best to Red Bull at the start of the year as they'd been in 2023 with Max Verstappen winning four of the first five races.
However, Norris claimed the first victory of his F1 career in Miami and that proved to be the start of a resurgence for the British team with the MCL38 establishing itself as the strongest car on the grid by the halfway point of the season.
Between them, he and Oscar Piastri managed to give the team a podium at the next 12 rounds and with Sergio Perez struggling for Red Bull, that was enough for Zak Brown's outfit to lead the constructors' standings heading into the final stages of the season.
A difficult run of races saw Norris' challenge to Max Verstappen in the Drivers' Championship come to an end and Ferrari close the gap in the fight for the team title but the English driver prevailed at the season finale in Abu Dhabi, leading from start to finish, to end McLaren's 26-year wait for said title.
They did score the most points of any team in 2007 but were disqualified after being found to have spied on rivals Ferrari and watched Red Bull and Mercedes largely dominate the sport after that.
However, they began regularly fighting at the front of the field again at the start of the 2020s after over half a decade in the midfield and won their first race in nine years in 2021 courtesy of Daniel Ricciardo.
The Aussie struggled to perform anywhere near as well as teammate Norris more often than not though and was thus replaced by young compatriot Piastri for 2023 and beyond. Since then, Norris and Piastri have established themselves as arguably the strongest pairing on the grid with both quick and consistent.
Their strong performances along with the excellent work of Andrea Stella and Co to out-develop Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes in 2024 were enough to finally make McLaren the team to beat again.