(Motorsport-Total.com) – This statement is unlikely to please Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff. Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies told Sky that the Bulls hope to benefit from the ADUO system and be allowed to further develop their engine in the coming months.
Read more McLaren: Lift-and-Coast in qualifying should «no longer be an issue»
ADUO stands for “Additional Design and Upgrade Opportunities”. The original idea was to measure the pure performance of the internal combustion engine every six races. Manufacturers who are between two and four percent behind the best engine in the field receive an additional upgrade opportunity.
If the deficit is more than four percent, two updates are even planned. “We definitely hope to belong to this category,” reveals Mekies. Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur had previously stated that he also hopes for upgrade opportunities for his own engine.
Toto Wolff, on the other hand, has already made it clear that he cannot see a significant deficit at either Red Bull or Ferrari. “The principle of ADUO was to help teams that are behind in terms of powertrain so that they can catch up – but not to overtake others,” said Wolff.
He emphasized that there is only one engine manufacturer, Honda, that needs help. “All the others are pretty much in the same range,” said the Austrian. An assessment that Mekies does not share. “Is [the Red Bull engine] at the level of the very best? Absolutely not,” the Red Bull team boss clarifies.
How far ahead is Mercedes really?
“So do we expect to belong to that group that will be given the opportunity to catch up? Yes,” says Mekies, who agrees with Wolff and says about ADUO: “The tool is supposed to help catch up, not to overtake others. So I fully agree with him on that.”
Read more Fernando Alonso about retirement: «Hopefully not the last season»
Unlike Wolff, however, he believes that Red Bull also needs this help. The Mercedes team boss recently explained: “I would be very surprised and disappointed if ADUO decisions led to interventions in the current competitive order.”
Formula 1 Fails: These rule changes were a flop
“We have precise data from our own analyses about where we see the engine performance of our competitors and ourselves,” said Wolff, adding: “In this regard, I assume that the FIA is looking at the same data.”
This means: Given his own data, he does not assume that, in addition to Honda, another manufacturer needs to upgrade its powertrain. Ferrari and Red Bull see things differently.
According to Mekies, their own engine is currently, for example, about three tenths of a second behind Mercedes’. The Silver Arrows are currently “far ahead of most of us,” says the Red Bull team boss.
Read more Formula 1 Weather 2026: The current forecasts for Miami