Ferrari boss says rivals must watch McLaren and Mercedes.
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has refused to accept that Red Bull is now the team to beat in Formula 1. Speaking to Motorsport.com, the Frenchman said the resurgent Milton Keynes squad is doing very well, but insisted rivals must still keep a close eye on McLaren and Mercedes. His comments arrive at a moment when Red Bull’s form has changed the mood in the paddock.
The remarks followed Max Verstappen’s back-to-back victories at the Malaysian and Singapore Grands Prix. The four-time world champion’s run led Mercedes driver George Russell to declare that Red Bull is now the team to beat, pointing to the fact that the wins came at two very different circuits. When the claim was put to Vasseur, his first reaction was a cautious “Not sure.”
Vasseur Pushes Back on Red Bull Tag
Vasseur made clear he respects what Red Bull has achieved, but he would not go as far as calling it the benchmark. “Honestly, they are doing very well, but it’s not the team to beat,” he said. He then redirected attention to the two teams he believes deserve equal focus. “You have to focus on McLaren and Mercedes.”
The answer carried weight because Ferrari are part of the same fight. By naming McLaren and Mercedes instead of presenting Red Bull as the sole threat, Vasseur described a grid where several teams can still claim to hold the advantage. It was a measured response, and one that avoided handing Red Bull a psychological edge at a time when momentum is already on its side.
Russell’s view was based on consistency across different circuits, while Vasseur’s rested on the shifting pattern across the whole season. The two positions are not necessarily in conflict, but they point to very different conclusions about who leads the field.
Four Teams Have Taken Turns at the Front
To support his view, Vasseur walked through how the 2026 season has unfolded. “If you look at the season so far, Mercedes was flying,” he said. “Then we won two races, McLaren won two, and Red Bull won two or three.”
The numbers fit the pattern of the campaign. Mercedes began the year with the strongest package and won the opening six rounds. Ferrari and McLaren then closed the gap and began collecting wins of their own. Red Bull were the last of the four to reach the top step, with Verstappen taking his first victory of 2026 in Malaysia. Vasseur’s reference to two or three Red Bull wins appears to include the Singapore sprint as well as the grand prix.
That rotation matters because it undercuts the idea of a single dominant car. In 2026, the title of quickest team has changed hands several times, and each change has been tied to upgrade packages rather than a lasting performance gap. Vasseur’s argument is that Red Bull’s current run fits that same pattern rather than breaking it.
Verstappen Drives Red Bull’s Late Resurgence
Red Bull’s turnaround has been striking. Verstappen followed his Malaysian win by taking both the sprint and the grand prix in Singapore, and he has now collected five consecutive podiums. The team also introduced a large upgrade at Baku during this spell, a step that has coincided with its climb up the order.
The results have left Red Bull just seven points behind third-placed McLaren in the constructors’ standings with six rounds remaining. That is a remarkable shift for a team that only took its first win of the season in Malaysia, and it explains why Russell and others have been so quick to talk up its pace.
Singapore Start Played a Key Role
Vasseur also questioned how much the Singapore result says about Red Bull’s overall superiority. He argued that much of Verstappen’s victory came down to lap one. “It means that the position in Turn 1 was critical,” he said.
Ferrari had their own strong weekend in Singapore, with Charles Leclerc finishing second and Lewis Hamilton sixth. Vasseur also suggested that the close competition across the grid makes any single result a poor guide to the overall picture, since four teams have repeatedly shown they can fight for victory within a short space of time.
Upgrades Could Reshape the Pecking Order Again
Vasseur’s central point is that the competitive order remains fluid. “If someone is bringing upgrades next week, the classification can change,” he said. That logic applies to every team in the top four. While Mercedes started the season with the best package, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull have all introduced updates at different times, trading places at the front depending on when their upgrades landed.
His message to his own team was to avoid distraction. “The most important thing is to be focused on ourselves, not to think about the others,” he explained. It is a familiar line from a team principal, but it also reflects how tight the margins are at the front of the field.
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For Red Bull, the challenge is to keep developing at the pace that brought this run. For McLaren and Mercedes, the task is to respond. And for Ferrari, which has already shown it can win this season, it is to make sure its own upgrades arrive when they are needed.
With six rounds left, Red Bull’s momentum is real, and Verstappen’s form is a clear warning to everyone ahead of them in the standings. Yet Vasseur’s stance shows Ferrari will not hand the label to anyone while the gaps remain so small. Whether Red Bull can turn two wins and a sprint victory into a lasting advantage will be decided over the closing races of 2026. Until then, the debate over who is truly the team to beat looks set to continue.
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