Steiner names his favourites for 2025 title as he predicts ‘different winners’ in multi-team battle

Guenther Steiner has given his take on the favourites for the championship in 2025, with the former Haas team chief predicting a close fight at the front with “different winners” across the season.

The 2024 campaign saw an increasingly tight battle play out amongst the top four teams, resulting in McLaren clinching their first Teams’ Championship in 26 years with Ferrari hot on their tail, while Red Bull slipped backwards to third ahead of Mercedes in a more distant fourth place.

Looking ahead to the forthcoming season – which will see three of those squads field a new driver line-up as Lewis Hamilton joins Ferrari, Liam Lawson arrives at Red Bull and rookie Kimi Antonelli makes the step up to Mercedes – Steiner is expecting those changes to particularly favour McLaren and Ferrari.

“I see the four teams again close together – last year, at the end, it was very close together,” said Steiner, who this year will act as ambassador for the 2025 Miami Grand Prix. “But my favourites are Ferrari and McLaren, because they were so strong [at the] end of last year and I think they figured out what the car needs to be fast.

“Not only downforce, it’s also balance in the car, the handling, how they manage all that, so I think they will be the favourites for me.

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - OCTOBER 27: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull — The 2024 season witnessed an increasingly close battle at the front of the pack

“Also, they have the driver pairing; they both [have] experienced drivers in, while Mercedes and Red Bull have got a rookie each. I mean, Liam is not a real rookie, but he hasn’t done a complete season. It just makes it difficult, because a rookie is a rookie – even if they [are] super good, he still needs to learn a lot.

“So I feel the two strongest teams will be Ferrari and McLaren, and I would say maybe if I would need to pick between the two of them, McLaren, because they did a good job last year. I think they were very good at the end of the season.”

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As he prepares for the Miami Grand Prix on May 2-4 – for which fans can now purchase a Campus Pass, a three-day admission ticket that allows visitors to fully immerse themselves in the excitement – Steiner shared his thoughts on whether any of the grid can repeat Lando Norris’ feat at last year’s event by becoming a first-time winner during the 2025 season.

“I think we will see different winners this year – I’m pretty sure about that,” Steiner explained.

“[Will] we see any of the rookies winning? I think that’s difficult, but not impossible. But there will be more than one winner this year – that will be similar [to] last year.”

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As well as the driver changes that have taken place for 2025 – with only McLaren and Aston Martin fielding unchanged line-ups – another challenge facing the grid this season will be the balancing act between developing their cars for the current campaign alongside preparing for the regulation changes that come into effect for 2026.

In terms of how the teams will handle this, Steiner predicted: “I think everybody will shift to the ‘26 car in May, because that is the future, and if you develop until May [with] the ‘25 car, you still bring parts until the middle of the year, because you develop and then you have to make the parts [and] obviously that takes time.

“So I do not think that there will be a lot of development going into the ‘25 car after May/beginning of June, except [if] somebody may be fighting for the World Championship.

“If the battle is close, then obviously you decide, ‘hey, we need to go a little bit longer [to make sure] that we win this championship’. But I think [for] everybody making their plan at the moment, I would say they in June are [focused] on 95% or 97% the ‘26 car.”