F1 shocked as dominant team allowed to ‘catch-up’ to rivals

Despite its utter domination of the start of F1 season, Mercedes has been given allowances to upgrade its engine and catch up to its rivals.

The FIA, motorsport’s governing body, over the Monaco Grand Prix weekend issued a bulletin declaring the Red Bull engine – which has amassed an astonishing two podiums from the first six race meetings – is the most powerful on the grid.

The Mercedes, by comparison, has only won all six grands prix and two of the three sprint races.

And because of this determination, the German brand will be allowed to make upgrades to catch up.

To say the news has come as a shock to the teams is an understatement, especially given Mercedes has clearly held a straight-line speed advantage over its rivals.

The bulletin and upgrade concessions are part of ‘additional development and upgrade opportunities’ (ADUO) in which each of the five engines are measured and compared and then ranked.

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The program was introduced as a part of this season’s regulations overhaul, and was essentially introduced to give engine manufacturers who missed the mark the chance to catch up.

The manufacturer producing the most powerful engine becomes the benchmark, and is frozen. The others are allowed to make upgrades to bring them into line.

It’s important to note ADUO only measures the combustion engine, and does not cover anything on the electrical side. So, Mercedes straight-line speed advantage could be down to how it delivers its electrical power and the efficiency of the car’s aerodynamics.

While the exact breakdowns are not made public, the ADUO metrics reportedly has the Mercedes engine as much as four per cent down on the Red Bull pony.

Ferrari and Audi are about the same, somewhere in the realm of five per cent down, while the Honda engine powering the struggling Aston Martin team is believed to be as much as 10 per cent down on power.

The concessions also come with a lifting of the cost cap – because of course all the extra design, testing, and construction costs money – and increased use of the dyno.

So what does it actually mean?

The ADUO program was introduced as a part of this new regulation overhaul to stop one engine manufacturer from having a stranglehold on the sport for years to come.

To reduce the ridiculous amounts teams used to spend, water-tight restrictions around engine development were introduced. Essentially, free development is banned, and teams are granted permission to make upgrades when criteria are met that they’re needed.

So the most powerful engine is not allowed to make any upgrades, and others are given allowances in order to catch up.

Exactly how the measurements are taken remains a secret to the public, but the entire process was signed off by all teams as early as a year ago.

What it means in a practical sense is Red Bull Powertrains are forbidden from making any upgrades to the engine. Mercedes will be allowed to make one in-season upgrade this year and another next year, while Ferrari, Audi and Honda will be allowed two this year and two next year.

The measurements are taken regularly, so if the Ferrari or Mercedes upgrades put it ahead of the Red Bull, then Red Bull would be allowed to make its own upgrades.

But if Red Bull were to then again become the most powerful engine, the other two would not be entitled to another upgrade.

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Despite the massive increase in electrical power under the new 2026 regulations, the combustion engine was still widely expected to be a deciding factor in how the pecking order shapes up.

That’s because while the electrical power output is capped, output from the combustion engine is not. The 50-50 split between electrical and combustion output is effectively only a concept, and not a hard-and-fast rule.

So what happens now?

That will be obvious to the fans? Not much, if at all. Fans hoping for a boost for next weekend’s race in Barcelona will be disappointed.

Lewis Hamilton in Monaco said implementing upgrades would be an “eight-to-10-month project”, and is “not something we can do next week”.

While Hamilton is right in saying it’s not something that can be done immediately, an allowance granted for this season does not roll over into next. So use it, or lose it, baby.

Ferrari – and no doubt the other teams, except perhaps Mercedes – would have been expecting to be given the ADUO upgrade concessions, so it’s hard to imagine the team would only now start researching when and how to best implement such upgrades.

It should also be noted while the ADUO measurements are taken only from the combustion engine, manufacturers are allowed to use the upgrade on the electrical side of the power unit should they determine that’s where the bigger gain would come.

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What fans might see though is more politics.

Because the Mercedes is clearly the dominant car, the team can afford to sit on their upgrades for as long as they like, which would put Red Bull at a disadvantage as the ‘benchmark’ engine unable to make any changes of their own.

So the Milton Keynes team might now become the FIA’s biggest ally as it campaigns to make big changes to the regulations next year.

The FIA want the power output skewed back towards the combustion engine, which would address the worst of the complaints about this year’s regulations.

The most vocal critic of the regulations has been Max Verstappen, and he’s consistently threatened to quit the sport at seasons-end if the regulations aren’t changed. Who does he drive for, again?

Any significant changes would need to be signed off by all 11 teams. With a clear advantage, there is little incentive for Mercedes to give it up.

It’s unlikely they would do it for the good of the sport. It’s a competition to be the best, after all. If your car sucks, make it better.

And why would they want to sign off on concessions that might otherwise see a key rival no longer a factor?

That said, Audi are believed to be against the push too, due to how much it has already spent entering the sport.

So with the potential to have engine development frozen, and the prospect of losing a four-time world champion driver, it would make sense for Red Bull to link up with the FIA on the paddock hustings.

Having bid ADUO to the glitz of Monaco – no apologies for that pun – the F1 circus returns to Barcelona this weekend.