Overview
- Teams were quietly informed during the Monaco Grand Prix weekend that Red Bull Powertrains‑Ford’s internal combustion engine (ICE) is the ADUO benchmark, making Red Bull ineligible for upgrades while rivals qualify for development relief.
- Under the ADUO bands, Mercedes was judged more than 2% behind the benchmark and gained one homologation upgrade for 2026 plus one for 2027, while Ferrari, Audi and Honda were placed over 4% adrift and received two upgrades in 2026 and two in 2027.
- The ADUO package also includes extra dyno/testing hours and cost‑cap allowances scaled by deficit bands (examples reported: roughly $3m for 2–4% and about $4.65m for 4–6%), which teams can spend on permitted PU work.
- The FIA’s assessment measures only ICE attributes such as torque, engine speed and MGU‑K contribution and excludes battery, ERS and deployment, so ADUO rankings can differ from on‑track results driven by hybrid efficiency.
- An official FIA publication was expected within the regulatory 14‑day window after the Canadian Grand Prix, and teams warn actual on‑track effects will take many months because bringing dyno upgrades to race fitment is a lengthy engineering process.