Ferrari’s ADUO 2 engine upgrade delivered what Maranello had hoped for at the 2026 Italian Grand Prix, even if the final result made that difficult to see. Monza left a bitter taste for many Ferrari fans, with Charles Leclerc crashing out and the SF-26 unable to establish itself in the fight for victory, while Lewis Hamilton could manage only sixth place.
Behind the disappointing performance on track, however, there was one encouraging technical takeaway. The second Ferrari power unit update introduced at Monza produced the gains the team expected. Without it, the Italian Grand Prix would have been even more difficult, particularly in qualifying, and the development could become an even more useful asset on other types of circuit. The real problem was that Ferrari’s initial deficit was simply too large to be eliminated with the second engine update produced by Maranello.
Ferrari ADUO 2 engine upgrade could not erase a 6–8% starting gap
The FIA figures that emerged in Monte Carlo regarding the performance of the different internal combustion engines had already provided a clear indication of Ferrari’s situation. The gap between the Ferrari ICE and the Mercedes unit was between 6% and 8%, corresponding to approximately 35–40 horsepower. That was far from insignificant under regulations that have made power unit performance even more important than in the past.
As previously anticipated, the new specification of Ferrari’s engine was never expected to eliminate that deficit completely. Instead, the objective was to move closer to Mercedes while accepting that a significant gap would remain. The broader characteristics of the Ferrari SF-26 power unit and its Monza development made clear why the upgrade needed to be viewed as another step in a longer process rather than a complete solution.
After the race, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur directly confirmed those expectations. “We didn’t expect to close the gap with ADUO 1 and ADUO 2,” Fred Vasseur said, before adding: “Of course, the target is to close the gap as quickly as possible. But I didn’t expect to close the gap to Mercedes in two months.”
It was an admission that put the expectations of Ferrari supporters and the more impatient sections of the media into perspective, while also highlighting just how complicated power unit development has become under Formula 1’s new regulatory cycle.
“This engine development process takes forever. It’s not like the chassis, which you can update from one day to the next,” Fred Vasseur explained. The Ferrari team principal highlighted how component lead times and the cost cap make every performance step slow and expensive. A much more extensively revised engine is only expected to arrive at the beginning of 2027.
Ferrari still faced an estimated 20 hp deficit at Monza
Ferrari already knew that Monza had the potential to become a difficult weekend. That concern was also understood internally, as even with ADUO 2 the Ferrari engine was still estimated to be slightly less than 20 horsepower behind Mercedes. The high-speed demands of the Italian circuit inevitably made that disadvantage particularly relevant.
Expectations nevertheless extended beyond sixth place. Ferrari had hoped to achieve more from its home race, especially after bringing a series of developments to the Italian Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc had also assessed Ferrari’s engine and floor upgrades ahead of Monza as the team prepared for one of the most important weekends of its season.
With better execution from Ferrari, could Lewis Hamilton have fought the McLaren cars more closely and perhaps even finished ahead of them? The overall picture would certainly have appeared less negative and closer to the expectations heading into the weekend.
Mercedes were considered the clear favourites at Monza, something the Brackley team itself had been fairly confident about. Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull were therefore expected to contest the positions behind them, with the characteristics of Monza once again suiting Red Bull as well.
Ferrari’s Monza result was also shaped by costly mistakes
The engine deficit, however, was not the only factor behind Ferrari’s disappointing Italian Grand Prix. Once again, the team made too many mistakes with some of its decisions and execution over the course of the race.
Both Ferrari drivers were too aggressive at the start, while Charles Leclerc then made the serious error at Parabolica that ended his race. There were also choices surrounding the race neutralisation and, in particular, the Virtual Safety Car with Lewis Hamilton that may have prevented Ferrari from maximising the final result.
That distinction is important when assessing ADUO 2. The picture emerging from Monza is not one of an engine upgrade that failed to work or delivered less performance than Ferrari expected. Instead, the weekend once again underlined how damaging Ferrari’s winter work on the engine side had been, something ScuderiaFans readers had already been prepared for.
Ferrari’s engineers have continued trying to recover that deficit through the season, including with the SF-26 changes prepared specifically for Monza, but ADUO 2 alone was never going to transform the competitive order overnight.
Why ADUO 2 could become more useful away from Monza
The encouraging aspect is that the latest engine specification appears to have done the job Ferrari designed it to do. On circuits where the power unit deficit is less severely exposed than at Monza, the improvement could therefore become more valuable as Ferrari continues through the remaining 2026 Formula 1 calendar.
At the same time, Ferrari’s recent race management has become another concern. During the last few Grands Prix, the team has repeatedly appeared confused in its handling of races and has often failed to optimise the potential available over a full weekend. That happened less frequently during the first part of the season, when the overall results were generally stronger whenever the performance of Ferrari’s rivals allowed it.
Monza therefore offered two very different conclusions. The ADUO 2 engine upgrade itself achieved its intended objective, but Ferrari remains some way from eliminating Mercedes’ power advantage. At the same time, extracting the maximum from the SF-26 will require the team to execute its weekends more cleanly while its long-term engine development programme works towards a more substantial step at the beginning of 2027.
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