McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes that the current crop of F1 drivers could be the most talented in the sport’s history. The Italian views ‘seven or eight’ of the existing field to be world-champion calibre talents, and there are numerous other top-level prospects still developing.

Of the 2025 grid, three are already multiple-time world champions in Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. Then there are the hopefuls, with George Russell and Charles Leclerc both viewed as potential champions in the right machinery.

At the other end of the grid, fans have been dazzled by the performances of a bumper class of rookie drivers. Isack Hadjar scored a podium in Zandvoort and looks set to drive for Red Bull in 2026, while Kimi Antonelli has scored two top-three finishes for Mercedes and dominated team-mate Russell in Brazil.

Then there is Oliver Bearman, who has been lightning-fast at times with Haas and has found consistency late in the year, scoring points in each of the last four rounds. Reigning Formula Two champion Gabriel Bortoleto has also impressed with Sauber.

“I think what we see in this season in Formula One, 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,” Stella said in Interlagos.

He went on to add: “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. They train at a certain level when they are adolescents. This has made the competitive field extremely, extremely tight, and therefore the difference is in this last one per cent.”

Despite the raft of elite talents on the grid, this year’s Drivers’ Championship title looks set to be won by a McLaren driver. Heading into the final three races of the season, Lando Norris leads team-mate Oscar Piastri by 24 points, having won back-to-back Grands Prix.

Throughout the fight, McLaren have been desperate not to play a significant role in deciding which way the intra-team battle goes. However, the most recent team orders drama in Monza has split F1 fans, and Norris was booed at the recent races in Mexico City and Sao Paulo as a result.