Ferrari claims F1 cost cap has made Red Bull harder to catch

Red Bull are running away with both world championships this season after enjoying an unbeaten start to 2023, having won all 12 races so far heading into F1’s summer break. 

Although the likes of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc have been able to claim pole positions, the RB19 has been unmatched in terms of race pace, underlined by some of Max Verstappen’s huge winning margins this campaign. 

And Ferrari boss Vasseur believes the F1 cost cap, which is set at $135m for each team this year, has only made the deficit for the chasing pack more difficult to bridge. 

“Red Bull is also bringing upgrades and upgrades and upgrades,” Vasseur said. 

“And I think that everybody is improving but the reality of the regulations and the cost gap is that we are improving much less than in the past. 

“It means that when there is a gap, and a real gap, it’s quite difficult to catch up. 

“One weekend to the others over the last four or five weekends it was a one time [Ferrari] ahead in quali, one time McLaren, one time Mercedes.

“But we are always behind Red Bull and at least in the race they have still a huge gap.”

Vasseur - who previously criticised the “very light” penalty handed out to Red Bull for their F1 cost cap breach in 2021 - stressed Ferrari are focusing on themselves, rather than looking at their rivals, in the search for improvements. 

“To catch up, it’s not that you are thinking about the Red Bull and to say well ‘what [do] we have to do?’” Vasseur said. 

“You have to work on yourself. It means that we are developing, we are developing in every single direction, we are trying to improve aero, suspension and whatever we can do. 

“We are pushing like hell to do a better job but if you have a look, and this is crucial, with the bouncing and so, it’s not when you are bringing upgrades that you are doing a huge step forward."