Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur is not yet sure that Red Bull currently has the fastest car on the F1 grid, despite Max Verstappen’s increasingly ominous resurgence threatening to turn the closing stages of the 2026 season into a very uncomfortable exercise for his rivals.
The Dutchman has swept to victory in Malaysia and Singapore, winning from pole position at both venues and adding further evidence that Red Bull has finally found a way to unlock its package.
Yet the Scuderia’s team principal remains unconvinced that the Milton Keynes outfit has established itself as the benchmark across the grid.
For Vasseur, the recent results are less proof of Red Bull’s outright superiority than another twist in a season that has repeatedly reshuffled the competitive order.
Asked in Singapore last weekend whether Red Bull had become the team to beat, the Frenchman was distinctly reluctant to endorse that assessment.
“Not sure,” he told reporters, quoted by Motorsport.com. “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 [refencing a Sprint event].
“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.”
Verstappen’s charge changes the picture
There is little doubt that Red Bull has become a far more serious threat since introducing a substantial upgrade package in Baku.
Verstappen has now collected five consecutive podiums, while his victories in Malaysia and Singapore have helped the team close to within seven points of third-placed McLaren with six rounds remaining.
The turnaround has been particularly striking given Mercedes’ commanding start to the campaign, when it won the opening six races, with Ferrari and McLaren also tagging on wins.
Vasseur, however, is not convinced that two victories tell the whole story.
His scepticism is partly rooted in the narrow margins separating the leading teams and the potential impact of further development. In a season where upgrades can quickly alter the balance, the Ferrari boss sees little sense in declaring a new pecking order before the next technical package arrives.
That does not mean Ferrari can afford to ignore Verstappen. Quite the opposite: the Dutchman’s recent form has made him impossible to overlook.
Ferrari points to the Singapore start
Vasseur also believes the circumstances of Verstappen’s Singapore triumph deserve closer examination. The Red Bull driver resisted Charles Leclerc into Turn 1 and then controlled the race at a circuit where overtaking is notoriously difficult.
Ferrari ultimately brought home second place with Leclerc and sixth with Lewis Hamilton, but Vasseur suggested that track position had played a decisive role in determining the outcome.
“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,” he explained.
“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.”
Read also: Hamilton admits Singapore strategy gamble is ‘a painful lesson’The implication is clear: Verstappen’s victory was not necessarily a definitive demonstration that Red Bull possessed an untouchable advantage, but rather that the team executed the decisive moment perfectly at a venue where passing opportunities were scarce.
Vasseur’s argument may offer Ferrari some reassurance, but it does little to diminish the immediate threat. Red Bull has momentum, Verstappen is delivering, and the remaining races will provide precious little time for its rivals to respond.
Whether that makes the reigning force the team to beat is a question Vasseur is happy to leave open. For now, he would rather concentrate on ensuring Ferrari has the pace to challenge it.
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