McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella anticipates a challenging second half of the season for his team. Despite no one questioning the British racing team’s dominance – with McLaren drivers winning eleven out of the fourteen Grands Prix in 2025 – the Italian expects the other top teams to compete for victories. Stella is particularly keeping an eye on Ferrari, but he certainly isn’t ruling out Max Verstappen either.
The current difference in World Championship points between McLaren, the championship leader, and Ferrari in second place is 299. The gap is even larger than the total points Ferrari has accumulated so far: 260 points. Although the dominance of the British racing team is undisputed, Team Principal Andrea Stella does not expect the rest of the season to be without competition from other teams.
Stella, the Italian, sees a particular threat coming from his home country’s team. “Ferrari has been very competitive in the past few races,” Stella shares from Hungary. “They were competitive on the dry track in Silverstone, they were competitive in Belgium. But for some reason, that flew a bit under the radar.” In Hungary, it was Charles Leclerc‘s Ferrari that clinched the pole position on Saturday. According to Stella, McLaren had some difficulty keeping up with the Monegasque’s pace in the early stages of the race. “Therefore, I think Ferrari is definitely a contender to claim victories for the rest of the season.”
Verstappen
However, the Italian team is not the only one Stella will be keeping an eye on. “When we start racing again in the second half of the season, we will always have to watch out for Ferrari, Mercedes, and Max Verstappen during both the qualifying and the race itself. Max will surely find a way to fight for the victories again.” Verstappen himself seemed to doubt the latter during the race weekend in Hungary. According to Stella, only one thing is clear this Formula 1 season: “Nothing is taken for granted in this sport.”
