McLaren’s Andrea Stella sees Williams and Alpine as potential challengers, suggesting F1’s top four might expand in a thrilling 2025 season.
McLaren F1 director Andrea Stella has addressed the possibility of teams joining the top contenders this season. According to him, the quartet of McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull, and Mercedes could see one, or even two, unexpected challengers.
“I’ve seen that in terms of single-lap pace, beyond the top four, Williams certainly looks very competitive,” said Stella, who primarily backs Williams but also keeps an eye on Alpine. “Before coming here, I was thinking that in the past, we used to talk about the top three.”
“Then, fortunately, McLaren somehow joined in, and now we have a top four. But maybe this year, we will have to adjust our language again, which would be great for Formula 1, and perhaps talk about a top five or even a top six.”
“We’ll see. In any case, it seems there are some quick cars like Williams and Alpine. I’m simply stating the obvious because I’m sure everyone has seen the data. It’s the same data I’m looking at.”
“And it’s interesting to note that, for example, Williams was very strong in the second sector, which isn’t just about braking and acceleration but also features a few medium-speed corners. I think that shows Williams has made progress in this area.”
According to the Italian, this could make the early stages of qualifying tricky: “Even last year, qualifying sessions were already quite tight. Q1 is a session where you assume one set of tires will be enough, that the first run will do the job.”
“Often, we had to go out again, and it was still very close in terms of lap times. And based on testing, I expect the situation to be even tighter at the start of the 2025 season.”
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Williams & Alpine: Dark Horses in the 2025 F1 Battle? Williams & Alpine: Dark Horses in the 2025 F1 Battle?
