For Andrea Stella, we will have to talk about "Top 5 or Top 6" in 2025, including Williams and Alpine

All observers – including us – agree that the 2025 season is one of the most difficult to predict, and promises to be one of the most competitive of our century. The winter tests, organized in Bahrain at the end of February, did not give us any clear hierarchy, or even real trends among the ten teams on the grid. The suspense is total a few days before the start of the championship, in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix (March 16). If the four best teams of 2024 – more commonly called the "Top Teams" of the Formula 1, still seems to have a slight advantage, with the status of favorite for McLaren, the midfield teams have never been closer. And for Andrea Stella, it is not impossible to see two of them mixing with the best in some races in 2025.

"In the past, we used to talk about the top three [to refer to Top Teams], said McLaren Team Principal after pre-season testing in Bahrain. Fortunately, McLaren came along and now we have the Top 4. But maybe this year we will have to adapt our language again, which will be a good thing for Formula 1, and maybe then we will have to talk about Top 5 or Top 6.

Stella impressed by Williams' progress

Andrea Stella thinks of two teams in particular, which made a good impression during the winter tests: Alpine et Williams. Both teams posted solid pace on the Sakhir track, both in pure pace and in race simulations with times very close to the best teams on the grid. The Grove team, which posted the best overall time of these tests with Carlos Sainz, particularly impressed Andrea Stella, who expects the FW47 to perform well in many areas.

"I saw that in terms of pace over a lap, besides the top four, the Williams are certainly very competitive, underlines the Italian leader. I'm sure everyone has seen the same data as me. And it's interesting to see that, for example, Williams has been very strong in the second sector, which is not only a braking and acceleration sector, but also a sector with some medium-speed corners. I think the inference is that Williams has perhaps improved in this area.

As a result of this increasingly competitive grid, getting into Q3 will logically be more difficult to achieve... and despite winning the world championship title in 2024, McLaren does not consider itself out of danger. "Already last year, during the qualifying sessions, it was quite close, recalled Andrea Stella. Those sessions where you go in [into Q1] and you think you're going to get through on one set of tyres, that the first attempt will be enough… a lot of times we had to go out again and it was still pretty tight from a lap time perspective. What I take away from those [winter tests] is that there will be more incidents like that at the start of the 2025 season." We are already looking forward to Saturday, March 15, for the qualifications of the Australian Grand Prix, the first judge of peace of this 2025 campaign which promises to be incredibly competitive.

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