Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has refused to label Red Bull as the current best team in Formula 1 despite Max Verstappen winning the last two grands prix from pole.
The four-time world champion took his first victory of 2026 with a dominant performance in Malaysia, before winning both the Singapore sprint and grand prix just one week later.
It comes after Red Bull brought a large upgrade to Baku amid Verstappen’s current run of five podiums, leaving it now just seven points behind third-placed McLaren with six rounds left.
But Vasseur has argued this resurgence is typical of the campaign which started with runaway leader Mercedes winning the opening six rounds, before Ferrari and McLaren closed the gap.
Both teams collected two wins during the mid-season European leg until Red Bull finally graced the top step, meaning the pecking order has fluctuated thanks to different upgrade strategies.
So when asked by Motorsport.com if Red Bull is the “team to beat”, Vasseur replied: “Not sure.
“Honestly, they are doing very well, but it’s not the team to beat. If you look at the McLaren and Mercedes, if you have a look from the beginning of the season, Mercedes was flying, then we won two races, then McLaren won two races, then Red Bull won two or three.
“I think it’s changing, because quite often you have four teams, I think yesterday you had four teams in less than two races.
“It means that if someone is bringing upgrades next week, the classification can change. But the most important thing is to be focused on ourselves, not to think about the others.”
Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari
Photo by: Anni Graf – Formula 1 via Getty Images
Vasseur’s comments came after Mercedes man George Russell claimed that Red Bull is “the team to beat”, considering Verstappen’s wins came at two very different circuits.
But the Ferrari boss, whose drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finished second and sixth on Sunday, reckons much of Verstappen’s Singapore victory was down to lap one.
It saw the Red Bull driver hold off Leclerc heading into Turn 1 and with overtaking extremely difficult at the tight Marina Bay street circuit, Verstappen could control the race from there on.
Vasseur added: “It was clear for us even when we were lapping cars, that as soon as you were two, three seconds behind, you were struggling more.
“It was clear all the laps that we were lapping someone. For sure, you lose time when you overtake, but even before, when you were two, three seconds behind, it was difficult.
“It means that the position in Turn 1 was critical.”
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