Ferrari are "very happy" about their 2023 car and will be competing at the front from the very start of the season, according to new McLaren chief Andrea Stella.
The Italian spent more than a decade working for Ferrari as an engineer before making the move to his current team. That came as a result of Fernando Alonso's switch to McLaren from the Scuderia, while Stella had worked with both Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen before the Spaniard.
Naturally, Stella will still have many contacts working at Maranello which could prove useful in his new job as team principal at McLaren. His long-term goal is to get his team into a position where it is regularly competing against the top teams, though he knows that will be difficult to achieve straight away.
Having consulted his sources at Ferrari, the Italians appear to be confident about what they can achieve with their 2023 car. The F1-75, run in this year's championship, was possibly the fastest on the grid – and the noises coming out of Maranello hint that their newest creation might be even quicker.
"The teams to beat in the next F1 season are Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes, which are currently competing in a different category from ours," Stella said at a ceremony in the Italian city of Orvieto.
On how well-placed Ferrari are for the new campaign, Stella added: "I expect a big reaction from Mercedes, even though I know that at Ferrari they are very happy with the new car and so they will certainly have a competitive start."
That declaration will be noted with interest at Mercedes and Red Bull, who will expect to be in the title fight themselves next year. As defending champions, Red Bull will be the team to beat – but it remains to be seen just how many major rivals they will have for the titles.
Ferrari were closest to them last year, but their challenge faded badly amid a swathe of strategy errors. They have a new team principal in Frederic Vasseur, though Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko said he "doesn't understand the change" and believes the Italians will be weaker for having lost Mattia Binotto.
Asked which team he felt will be the main rival to Red Bull in 2023, the Austrian replied : "Definitely Mercedes – they are the more stable team. And they have [Lewis] Hamilton. Even if they may have gone downhill this year, they are still a very special team. In the meantime, [Hamilton's] lap times have repeatedly shown that he is a top driver. [Mercedes] is just the much stronger package than Ferrari."
