Stella is happy that young drivers are coming to Formula 1

Andrea Stella is happy to see young drivers entering Formula 1, but the McLaren team boss has warned newcomers they will immediately feel the unforgiving environment they find themselves in when they make their debut in the championship next year.

In 2025, at least three teams will have young drivers: Mercedes signed a contract with Kimi Antonelli, Haas F1 with Oliver Berman, Alpine with Jack Duane. Among the contenders for the remaining two vacancies at Sauber and RB are also Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson, but the New Zealander already has experience of five grands prix.

And last weekend at Monza, Franco Colapinto made his Williams debut, replacing Logan Sargent, and will spend the remaining eight stages of the season with the British team.

They were all given the chance to move up to the premier class of motorsport, although there is almost no testing left in Formula 1 and young people have minimal opportunities to get to grips with the latest generation of cars on a real race track.

According to Stella, this fact in itself is quite encouraging: “I think this is a good sign. Despite the fact that there are few tests, there are clearly not enough opportunities for young drivers to improve their professional skills and demonstrate their abilities, but there are still some ways to get into Formula 1. That is good, because they deserve the chance to prove themselves.

It seems that with each successive time cycle the training level of young riders increases. Overall, if they all debut at the same time next year, it will be very interesting to see what each of them can do.

Formula 1 is a pretty cruel environment in the sense that there is a very high level of competition and selection. It is good that they have all been given their chance, and now it is up to them how they use it, how much they can show their talents and continue to develop. But I think this is good news for our sport.”