McLaren identifies Ferrari as threat for rest of F1 2025 after Silverstone step

McLaren believes Ferrari’s improved pace during the British Grand Prix weekend could make the rest of the 2025 Formula 1 season more “interesting,” identifying the Italian outfit as a credible threat moving forward.

Following a major upgrade introduced last weekend in Austria, Ferrari made a clear step forward at Silverstone and emerged as McLaren’s closest rival in Friday practice.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc even topped the timesheets in Q2, but ultimately qualified only fifth and sixth after a tricky final segment in Q3.

While Ferrari's end result in qualifying was more in line with previous races, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said the Scuderia’s overall performance across the weekend suggests its latest updates are delivering as intended.

He believes this could complicate McLaren’s title run-in as it leads both championships heading into the second part of the season.

“Looking at the lap times that Ferrari have been able to pull off in every single session, Ferrari seemed to be the strongest team – probably they still are the strongest team,” Stella said after qualifying.

“The gaps are very small and Max [Verstappen] also went out for the final lap in Q3 relatively a few minutes later... and here there could be a slight variation of wind that can affect one tenth here and there.

“So, everything is very tight, difficult to say which one was the strongest team, but Ferrari definitely appeared like the most competitive.

“Even if we look at Q2, I think they were P1–P2 quite convincingly at the time, so it looks like the upgrades that they have taken to Austria, they seem to have worked very well, which makes not only the Silverstone Grand Prix interesting because of how tight the situation is at the front of the grid, but also interesting for the remainder of the championship.”

There is a chance of rain during Sunday’s race at Silverstone, which could further shake up the order, especially as teams have had no prior running in wet conditions so far this weekend.

Stella admitted it’s difficult to predict a clear winner regardless of conditions but was particularly struck by Ferrari’s long-run pace in practice.

“In terms of dry conditions, it is very difficult to say who is the best team,” he said. “The lap times that Ferrari were able to produce in practice were quite impressive. There's some lap times they did in high fuel which we were not in condition to repeat.

“So definitely we thought that they were the favourites for the race and even for qualifying.

“But we ended up seeing that the situation is very tight. So I don't think we will see a big difference between Max, the two McLarens, the two Ferraris, and potentially even George [Russell].

“We'll have to see if [Verstappen’s] lap in qualifying was a one-off because up until that point in Q3, it seemed like they were not as competitive as the others for the top positions of the grid.

“The weather is a factor. If there's weather around, like we have seen last year, then it can be quite entertaining because I don't expect that it will be like strong, persistent rain.

“If there is [rain], it will be possibly more like last year with various conditions throughout the race and definitely one more reason for an eventful and entertaining British Grand Prix.”

McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris will start second and third respectively for the team’s home race, behind Red Bull polesitter Verstappen.