Memories in the world of F1 are short-lived. Mercedes have had an eight-year-long period of dominance. However, since the 2022 season, all everyone can talk about is Red Bull and Max Verstappen, including Mercedes. There is no doubt the Austrian team and their Dutch driver have been in brilliant form. Although some of the claims the Mercedes men have made in relation to Red Bull are ridiculous, especially keeping in mind their prolonged era of dominance. This is exactly why Toto Wolff’s friend Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur went against him in defending Red Bull against an unnecessary jibe.

After the Hungarian GP, Toto Wolff claimed it felt like Verstappen was competing against a group of Formula 2 drivers. This might’ve been a fair assessment keeping in mind Verstappen’s 30-second gap at one point in the race. However, despite that, Wolff does not have a leg to stand on. The Ferrari boss it was imperative he reminds his Mercedes friend of the same. Vasseur expressed this opinion as quoted by Motorsport-Nextgen Auto.

“Give him an F2 car and we’ll see. Red Bull are in the lead, but I think the feeling was probably the same when Mercedes were in the lead a few years ago,” Vasseur said. “I honestly think the most important thing is to focus on yourself to try to make the most of what you have, to minimize mistakes, to do a better job. And then what has to happen will happen. But I’m not sure it makes sense to try to make that kind of assumption.”

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However, focusing on one’s team has become a little difficult because of the ever-changing rules and various new aspects introduced by the FIA, primarily the budget cap. The cap is the biggest obstacle, according to Vasseur which is creating this massive gap.

Frederic Vasseur blames the FIA for creating a massive gap between Max Verstappen and Co. and the rest of the grid

Before the budget cap, big teams were spending unimaginable sums to push their limits and beat their competition. So closing the gap to the leading team was always an option. However now, with the ever-reducing budget cap, there is only a limit till which all teams can develop and close the gap. So if one team has a headstart like Red Bull does, the other teams can only close the gap so much. Vasseur expressed this opinion while speaking about the current competition and the limitations in the competition they are facing because of the budget cap.

“Red Bull is also making improvements, improvements, and more improvements. And I think everyone is improving, but the reality of the regulations and the cost gap means that we are improving a lot less than in the past. That means when there is a real gap it is quite difficult to catch up,” Vasseur explained.

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Now, this is the opposite of what the FIA was hoping to achieve with the introduction of the budget cap. However, if we keep Red Bull aside, the grid has come closer and the competition has definitely increased.

So perhaps, 2026 will showcase the most competitive year in the recent history of Formula 1? Let’s hope so!

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