The latest meeting of the World Motor Sport Council has clarified the remaining details about Formula 1’s new performance convergence mechanism for 2026. This new system, known as ADUO – the English acronym for Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities – is designed to help struggling power unit manufacturers catch up, preventing a repeat of dominant eras such as Mercedes’ post-2014 supremacy. The regulation outlines how the ADUO will be assigned, what benefits it grants, and under what conditions it can be withdrawn.
The benefits
The goal of the ADUO is to promote performance convergence among engine manufacturers. Unlike the Balance of Performance (BoP) system used in GT racing, which directly equalizes performance by adjusting power output or weight, the ADUO concessions will instead support development for those lagging behind. “The ADUO is not a system that artificially increases performance,” explained FIA’s Head of Single-Seaters Nikolas Tombazis in an interview for the Italian media back in September. “[The concessions] are not a guarantee of competitiveness; they simply provide a bit more budget within the cost cap to allow for further development. […] For the first time, we’ll have a cost cap system in place. Without the ADUO, a manufacturer who falls behind but has the same spending limit as others could risk staying behind indefinitely.”
Manufacturers benefiting from ADUO will be granted a higher spending limit and allowed to homologate more updates than their competitors, though these concessions apply only to the internal combustion engine, not the full power unit. With the exception of updates for safety, reliability, or cost reduction, engine development will be tightly restricted. Components such as combustion chambers, pre-chambers, pistons, connecting rods, and intake and exhaust ducts can only be updated for performance reasons at the start of 2027 and the first race of 2029. With ADUO concessions, however, manufacturers can homologate one additional performance-related update in the year following the concession’s allocation. For example, if a manufacturer receives the ADUO in 2026, they will be allowed to modify thermal engine components twice in 2027 and conduct bench testing for 12 months, with 30% more hours than normally permitted.
Allocation criteria
The FIA will evaluate potential ADUO assignments every third of the championship, after the 6th, 12th, and 18th Grands Prix. Concessions will go to power unit manufacturers whose internal combustion engines are at least 3% down on power compared to the most powerful on the grid – roughly a gap of 15 to 20 horsepower. It is not yet clear whether this evaluation will be based on peak power or average performance across different operational conditions.
Other aspects, such as torque or operating temperatures that affect radiator size and aerodynamic drag, will not be considered. “We’ve discussed many times whether to add more parameters into the equation, and we’ve talked about it openly with the manufacturers,” Tombazis explained. “The general consensus was that power is the main indicator. There are other important but secondary aspects, and including them would have made the process unnecessarily complex.”
In 2024, Alpine had already requested an exemption from the power unit freeze to close the gap to Mercedes, Honda, and Ferrari. However, one major issue was the lack of a standardized method to measure power deficits. Starting in 2026, all cars will be equipped with torque sensors on the rear half-shafts, allowing the FIA to directly monitor power unit performance. The governing body will calculate the average power output of all engines supplied by a given manufacturer, following a procedure described in a document that remains confidential.
Revocation clauses
The FIA will have the authority to grant the ADUO to one or more manufacturers, but it will also retain the right to revoke it if necessary. According to Appendix C5 of the Technical Regulations, Article 4.a states that the FIA reserves the right to withdraw the concessions if a manufacturer’s performance proves inconsistent with the data measured before the allocation. This rule aims to discourage sandbagging – the deliberate act of underperforming to qualify for ADUO benefits.
Article 4.b further stipulates that the FIA may take discretionary action if the updates enabled by ADUO give a manufacturer an unfair advantage over those without concessions. The intention is to prevent a paradoxical situation in which a slower manufacturer uses ADUO to leap ahead of initially stronger competitors. However, the regulation does not specify how such cases will be resolved, merely stating that “such measures will be discussed in good faith with all manufacturers.”
Adjustments to the cost cap
In addition to the extra test bench hours and homologation opportunities, the concessions will also raise the power unit spending cap. Regardless of ADUO, there will be an additional cost cap increase for manufacturers facing clear reliability issues. This measure is intended not to boost development but to offset the production costs of replacement engines.
“Next year, the overall budget will be 190 million dollars, and a complete power unit will cost around 1.5 to 2 million,” Nikolas Tombazis pointed out – “You can easily imagine that if someone breaks ten engines, they’d have a 20-million hole in their budget. That could create a situation where a manufacturer might have to leave Formula 1 because they’d never be able to recover or fix their cost problems. In my view, the ADUO is necessary for the survival of the manufacturers.”
With these measures, Formula 1 aims to ensure a more balanced field and prevent another long-term domination era, giving every power unit manufacturer a fair chance to compete under the 2026 regulations.
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