Why gloves are now off between Ferrari and Mercedes amid Vasseur anger

Fred Vasseur is usually his jovial self, but in between wisecracks even the Frenchman couldn't hide his annoyance during Friday's Silverstone press conference when he was frequently asked about Ferrari's recent Formula 1 car upgrades.

Ferrari brought a large upgrade package to the recent Barcelona Grand Prix, which enabled Lewis Hamilton to snare his maiden grand prix win with Ferrari, and Mercedes' first Sunday defeat of the 2026 campaign.

It was the second such upgrade package of the year, which prompted Mercedes F1 chief Wolff to question whether Ferrari would be able to keep up that development pace given F1's cost cap restraints.

"We're a little bit surprised that Ferrari can throw these huge updates at the car in the way they do," Wolff said last Sunday. "In my opinion, they need to be running out of cost cap money soon, because we can't do that. We're simply lacking the buffer in the cost cap to be able to bring so many parts in the way they do.

"So, hopefully that's going to change towards the end of the season when they won't be able to bring any parts anymore. At least, let's say, the logic would say that."

It was very clear these comments had gotten under Vasseur's skin, because when he was asked about Ferrari's own upgrade programme, Vasseur brought them up unprompted.

"You are referring to the comments of Toto? I found it quite ironic coming from Toto and Mercedes. When Red Bull is developing or when Mercedes is developing, they are genius. When we are developing, we are cheating. I think you have to calm down with this. We didn’t bring more parts than Red Bull or another [team]. I don’t know if it was a joke, but…

"If you think that we overshoot the cost cap, for me it’s going into this direction [of accusing Ferrari of cheating]."

Watch: Mercedes vs Ferrari, On and Off Track | 2026 British GP Friday

It was a huge response to a Wolff comment that looked innocent in isolation. The Austrian wasn't suggesting Ferrari is breaching the cap, but just stated that it couldn't possibly be keeping up its upgrade rollout throughout the season because of the financial restrictions in place.

Except this is F1, and no comments should ever be taken in isolation. What ticked Vasseur off was that Wolff singled out Ferrari in particular, when it is believed that the Scuderia isn't even the squad that has brought out the most upgrades yet this season.

Several teams point towards Red Bull as leading the charge on the front, as Max Verstappen's outfit started the 2026 campaign well on the back foot, only for the Dutchman to be in the victory hunt last week in Austria.

So if Wolff puts the emphasis on Ferrari without even mentioning Red Bull, then a reasonable assumption rivals teams could make is that he is playing a political game to put the spotlight on the scarlet Scuderia.

Vasseur is no stranger to such gamesmanship, and he has a good personal relationship with Wolff, so that still doesn't explain why Wolff's comments struck a chord.

But "upgrade-gate" is about more than just Ferrari's latest aero bits and bobs, as the Ferrari and Mercedes having been clashing sabres over a number of topics, dating all the way to last year.

The 2026 political battle kicked off with the compression ratio saga, with Ferrari one of the manufacturers lobbying the FIA to close a loophole that allegedly allowed Mercedes to run its engines at a higher ratio than the rules intended.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Lintao Zhang / LAT Images via Getty Images

Ferrari was also ticked off when it alerted the FIA last year to potential start trouble with the 2026 F1 cars and their convoluted hybrid engines. With no changes forthcoming from the governing body, Ferrari decided to design its power unit around a smaller turbocharger, which would spool up quicker and allow it to get better launches off the line, at the expense of overall horsepower.

But as the real safety risk of the messy start procedure came into focus during winter testing, procedural changes on the grid then afforded cars more time to spool up their engines, partially negating Ferrari's design advantage while the Scuderia still paid an overall horsepower price.

The argument didn't stop there, as the controversial ADUO power unit upgrade scheme was the next topic of political intrigue. Rivals were taken aback by the FIA's finding that not Mercedes but Red Bull had the most powerful V6 engine, and Mercedes was thus afforded upgrade opportunities despite appearing to have the overall edge. Ferrari had already anticipated that its power unit would be eligible for additional upgrades, and brought a first revision to Austria to limited effect.

On the same week it emerged that Mercedes had to take off its new diffuser due to a technical directive by the FIA following queries from Ferrari. It is understood Ferrari didn't necessarily want Mercedes' trick solution banned, but was intending to deploy its own, even more extreme version, which the FIA decided to outlaw to stop design interpretation getting out of control.

There was also a move to ban Ferrari's exhaust wing for 2027, although it is understood this is one element that wasn't necessarily a political battleground but part of the FIA's move to reduce downforce levels for next year as it aims to improve the current regulations.

So rather than one isolated incident, the latest escalation is the result of a cascade of small political games as it has become glaringly obvious to Mercedes and Ferrari that both parties will be each other's biggest rivals this season.

But there was one element of Vasseur's reply to Wolff that was the most intriguing. The notion that talking about cost cap breaches was "quite ironic coming from Toto and Mercedes".

Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari

Photo by: Michael Potts / LAT Images via Getty Images

It is hard not to see this as anything else than a thinly veiled reference to last October, when Mercedes was initially rumoured to be falling foul of the 2024 cost cap rules before eventually being cleared of any wrongdoing by the FIA.

Days after the Mexico Grand Prix the FIA confirmed nine teams were found in compliance with the 2024 financial rules, with only Aston Martin slapped on the wrist for a procedural breach. Having seemingly been convinced otherwise, some of Mercedes' rivals found that announcement hard to swallow, and it left a bad taste in people's mouth - apparently all the way until today.

Vasseur and Wolff are good friends, so this episode feels like uncharted territory. On that same Mexico weekend last year, Wolff even went out of his way to give the Frenchman a strong vote of confidence amid increasing pressure on his position.

"They need to just let them do [his job]" Wolff said when asked by Autosport about Vasseur's position. "Fred is one of the best racing managers that I know. I respect him a lot. He's a great personality. He's a straightforward guy. He doesn't do politics and lies, and he knows what he's talking about. He should be given the confidence to run this team. They won't get anybody better."

Naturally those comments came a time when neither Mercedes nor Ferrari were battling over the big prize. But with both teams now at the sharp end of the grid, and destined to fight each other all the way, things are different.

Wolff and Vasseur will undoubtedly sit down and let things cool off, but this isn't personal. It's strictly business. And following the latest spat, it feels like the gloves are now off.