McLaren's Andrea Stella makes a bold claim about the Max Verstappen-Oscar Piastri-Lando Norris generation of F1 drivers

McLaren's team principal, Andrea Stella, has made a bold claim regarding Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and Oscar Piastri's generation of drivers in Formula 1. In line with this, Stella has credited the junior racing categories.

In the ongoing 2025 Formula 1 season, pretty much the whole field from top to bottom has had solid results. While the fight at the top end between Lando Norris (390 points), Max Verstappen (341 points), and Oscar Piastri (366 points) is cut-throat, so is the competition among the drivers in the midfield pack.

As things stand, only 15 points separate drivers from P9 (Nico Hulkenberg - 43 points) to P17 (Yuki Tsunoda - 28 points) in the drivers' standings.

Only three Grand Prix events are remaining on the race calendar, and amid this, Andrea Stella has come up with a fascinating take and asserted that around 7-8 drivers on the grid are all world championship caliber. Via a recent interaction with Motorsport, the McLaren boss has added:

"I think what we see in this season in Formula 1, in terms of competitiveness – and this is something that you may pick for a little bit of analysis – I don't recall that there was such a competitive pool of drivers in any other season." "The new generation of drivers, they're just so good, and now you have seven, eight drivers which are at world championship level. Like I say, I'm not sure this has happened before. Potentially this is because of how good the junior categories now are. These guys, they go karting and they have the data."

Round 22 of the 2025 Formula 1 season is the much-awaited Las Vegas Grand Prix.

"Ignore the noise and keep pushing": McLaren's Lando Norris following his triumph in Brazilian GP

F1 Grand Prix of Sao Paulo 2025 - Source: Getty

While Andrea Stella has showered praise on the talent on the 2025 Formula 1 grid, his star driver, Lando Norris (McLaren), has created a decent buffer over the competition in the drivers' championship. With only three races remaining, Norris is currently in P1 with a lead of 24 points over Oscar Piastri.

Moreover, following the end of last week's Brazilian GP, which was won by Norris, he emphasized keeping his head down and added:

"This one was for one of my mentors, Gil, I hope he'd be very proud. It was a great win, but to be honest, seeing how quick the competition was today, it's clear we’ve still got work to do. I'll go back, see the team, congratulate them and see what we can do better. Looking ahead, I'll keep focusing on myself, keep my head down, ignore the noise and keep pushing." (Via: McLaren)

Lando Norris has so far put on board seven victories and 17 podium finishes.

Edited by Rishabh Negi