McLaren boss Andrea Stella has singled out Williams as the team that could trouble the frontrunners in Formula 1 in 2025 based on the team’s pace during pre-season testing.
McLaren’s status as reigning champions has seen it be billed as the team to beat in a 2025 campaign that has been tipped to be among the closest the series has ever seen.
The Woking-based squad prevailed in 2024 in a season which concluded with it close on pace with Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes as the top four all won in the last five races.
But although a sizeable gap existed to those behind, McLaren CEO Zak Brown believes the dwindling gaps could prompt a midfield side to be victorious at some stage in 2025.
With the sole pre-season test in Bahrain now complete, Stella has even suggested that a team outside the leading quartet could be in contention on a consistent basis.
“We see there are definitely several cars that are in condition to put together very competitive lap times, which I think are competitive in absolute terms,” Stella told media including Motorsport Week.
“So if anything my take so far is that I was thinking before coming here that in the past we used to talk about the top three.
“Then thankfully McLaren has kind of added and now we have the top four.
But perhaps this year we might have to adapt our language again, which will be great for Formula 1 and then maybe the top five or the top six.
“So we will see. Certainly there seem to be a few quick cars out there.”
Williams impress McLaren
Stella pinpointed Williams as the rival team which stood out to him the most, the Grove-based squad ending the test with the best lap time through new recruit Carlos Sainz.
Asked to expand on who he sees rivalling that group, he said: “I’ve seen that in terms of one-lap pace in addition to the top four that seem to be certainly Williams, very competitive.
“I’m really stating the obvious because I’m sure everyone will have seen the data. They are the same data that I look at.
“And it’s interesting that, for instance, Williams was very strong in the second sector which is not only a sector of braking acceleration.
“It’s also a sector with a couple of medium-speed corners. I think this should say that Williams might have improved in that area.
“And over the two days, I’ve seen, like I said, at times some other teams in condition to put together quick lap times.
“In reality, you should look at the GPS overlays. It’s not only the sector times or the lap times. You should go through a thorough analysis.”
McLaren anticipating even closer field spread
The convergence that has occurred as the current rules have matured was evident at the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi as less than a second separated the pack in Q1.
Stella anticipates the margins to be even tighter when the season begins next month to the point where the top teams won’t be guaranteed to advance to Q3 untroubled.
“But the early indication is that already last year, going through qualifying sessions, it was quite tight,” he continued.
“The Q1 session, it wasn’t any more towards the end of the season those sessions in which you enter and you think, ‘we’re going to go through with one set of tyres, just the first run will be enough’.
“Often we needed to go out again and it was still quite close from a lap time point of view.
“What I’ve taken from these two days is that, if anything, it’s going to be even more of this as we start this 2025 season.”
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