For the second time this season, the FIA has declared that Red Bull Ford Powertrains builds the most powerful internal combustion engine in Formula 1 — and for the second time, Red Bull has been left with nothing to show for it.
The governing body published the findings of its period-two Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) review on 26 August, confirming the RBPT DM01 as the benchmark unit of the new 2026 regulations. Mercedes was ranked 2-4 per cent adrift, with Audi, Ferrari and Honda all more than 4 per cent behind. The verdict lands with an awkward footnote: Max Verstappen sits sixth in the drivers’ standings on 112 points, 130 behind Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes, having been beaten by four cars powered by engines the FIA says are slower than his.
What the ADUO numbers actually say
ADUO is the convergence mechanism written into the 2026 rules to stop a repeat of 2014, when Mercedes’ head start went uncorrected for years. The FIA ranks manufacturers on a confidential performance index built from input shaft torque, engine speed, MGU-K power and a weighting for how sensitive lap time is to power at each circuit. Fall 2-4 per cent behind the benchmark and you earn one extra homologation per season; fall more than 4 per cent behind and you earn two.
Those allocations were made after the first review, which covered the Melbourne opener through to Canada. Mercedes received one additional homologation for 2026 and another for 2027. Audi, Ferrari and Honda each received two for both seasons. Each allowance arrives bundled with extra dyno hours and cost cap relief worth between $3million and $11m depending on the size of the deficit, with a further $8m available in 2026 to anyone more than 10 per cent adrift.
The second review, covering the rest of the season to round 11 in Budapest, granted nobody anything new — the standings were unchanged, so no fresh concessions were triggered. Honda’s revised powertrain, introduced at Zandvoort, fell outside the assessment window.
“The FIA has undertaken thorough and exhaustive analysis as part of our ADUO review process,” said Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s single-seater director. “With the release of the findings of period two, we are confident that, based on the quality of the data, its analysis is incredibly robust, giving us a high level of confidence in our findings.” Tombazis declined to publish the underlying figures, citing manufacturer intellectual property, and conceded that “this is the first year of ADUO, so naturally there are areas which we may evolve over time.”
Why the best engine is not the fastest car
The gap between the ranking and the results sheet has a straightforward explanation: ADUO measures only the internal combustion engine, which produces just over half of a 2026 power unit’s output. It does not measure the battery, the recovery systems or the deployment strategy that governs how that energy is spent down a straight — and that is precisely where Mercedes has built its advantage.
Toto Wolff has been happy to say that Mercedes has the best power unit in Formula 1. Remarkably, so has his opposite number. Laurent Mekies, who formally requested a factual review of the first ADUO ruling, has accepted that “Toto is right — they have the most powerful power unit,” while insisting there was “not a single data point” supporting Red Bull’s top billing on power-sensitive circuits.
Red Bull is therefore effectively checkmated. Because the extra homologations cover electrical components as well as the ICE, the team that leads on combustion but trails on deployment is the one team barred from developing its way out of the problem. Lewis Hamilton, briefed on the rankings at Monaco, put the scale of the task plainly: “We’ve got tokens to develop and close the gap. But that’s like an eight-to-10-month project.”
What it means from here
The next assessment falls after the Mexico City Grand Prix in early November, and it is the last realistic chance for the order to shift before the 2027 allocations harden. Three outcomes matter:
- If Honda’s Zandvoort upgrade closes the gap, it could drop below the 4 per cent threshold and forfeit concessions it currently holds.
- Mercedes’ extra 2027 homologation gives it scope to extend a lead it has already converted into a 59-point cushion for Antonelli over George Russell.
- Red Bull’s only route is lobbying for the index itself to be broadened — a change Tombazis has left the door open to.
For Red Bull Powertrains, assembled from scratch in 2022 after Honda’s withdrawal and built in technical partnership with Ford, the ranking is still vindication of a project widely written off. “We’re very happy with where we are right now,” said Ford motorsport boss Mark Rushbrook. Audi, meanwhile, called the finding “entirely in line with what to be expected.” Being crowned the benchmark has rarely felt so much like a penalty.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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