The Ferrari F1 engine deficit remains above 20 hp despite two ADUO upgrades introduced during the 2026 Formula 1 season, with the FIA’s third assessment of power unit performance confirming that the Italian manufacturer is still more than 4% behind Red Bull Powertrains. Although Ferrari has recovered a significant amount of power, Mercedes and Red Bull have continued making progress of their own, preventing the Scuderia from closing the gap as quickly as expected.
The latest FIA assessment under the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) system has left the established engine performance hierarchy unchanged. Red Bull Powertrains remains the only manufacturer ineligible for additional development opportunities, while Mercedes is still estimated to be between 2% and 4% behind the Anglo-Austrian manufacturer’s internal combustion engine. All the other power unit manufacturers remain more than 4% behind.
Ferrari remains over 4% behind Red Bull despite both ADUO upgrades
The outcome underlines just how difficult Ferrari’s recovery has become. As previously reported, the initial assessments placed the Maranello manufacturer between 6% and 8% behind the benchmark, ahead of only Honda in the engine performance rankings.
The two upgrades introduced during the season, ADUO 1 in Austria and ADUO 2 at Monza, allowed Ferrari to recover approximately 20 hp. However, those improvements were not enough to bring the Italian power unit within the 4% deficit threshold.
Ferrari also deliberately chose not to push its 2026 engine development programme to the limit. Budget considerations played a part in that decision, with the team preferring to wait and introduce a more substantial upgrade at the beginning of the 2027 season rather than commit further resources to smaller developments during the current campaign.
The situation highlights the limitations of the development opportunities available through the ADUO system. The latest ADUO ruling and its implications for Ferrari demonstrate why additional development allowances do not necessarily translate into an immediate change in the competitive order.
Why Ferrari’s 20 hp recovery has not closed the engine gap
Anyone expecting Ferrari to eliminate its deficit to Mercedes and Red Bull through the two authorised upgrades was overestimating the impact of those developments. Ferrari began the season with a substantial disadvantage, but its rivals have not stood still while the Scuderia worked to recover lost performance.
Both Red Bull Powertrains and Mercedes have managed to improve their respective power units without relying on upgrades granted through the ADUO mechanism. Consequently, Ferrari’s progress has been measured against a moving target rather than against engines whose performance remained unchanged.
While Ferrari was recovering approximately 20 hp, the manufacturers already ahead were continuing to extract additional power from their existing packages. This explains why the improvements made in Maranello have not produced the expected reduction in the overall deficit.
The challenge is particularly important as Ferrari prepares for the next phase of the regulations. The Scuderia’s planned 2027 upgrade will need to deliver a meaningful step forward while accounting for further gains from its direct competitors.
Mercedes finds double-digit horsepower gains without ADUO upgrades
Mercedes has also achieved a double-digit horsepower improvement during the 2026 season, according to information obtained, although its gains are understood to be smaller than those recorded by Ferrari.
The German manufacturer has made better use of the potential already available within its internal combustion engine while also improving the electrical side of the power unit. This included a modification to the battery that was formally classified as a reliability-related update.
According to well-informed individuals, the Mercedes power unit is currently considered the strongest overall package, despite Red Bull Powertrains holding the advantage in the internal combustion engine performance assessment.
Crucially, the German manufacturer is also believed to have considerable untapped performance potential. Those additional gains are expected to become particularly evident during the 2027 Formula 1 season, potentially making Ferrari’s recovery even more demanding.
The wider competitive picture can also be explored through the Ferrari versus F1 rivals statistics, which compare the Scuderia’s qualifying, race performance and championship results against Mercedes, Red Bull and the other constructors.
Red Bull Powertrains extracts more performance without hardware changes
Red Bull Powertrains has followed a similar development path, although its progress has largely come from improving its understanding and operation of the first Formula 1 power unit developed entirely at Milton Keynes.
The new engine required a gradual learning process, with the manufacturer becoming increasingly capable of exploiting its performance consistently as the season progressed. Its peak power potential was already present, but extracting that performance reliably across different operating conditions required further refinement.
Rather than introducing hardware modifications, Red Bull focused on improving calibration and optimising the existing package. Work carried out with ExxonMobil also contributed to increasing the engine’s effective efficiency, allowing the manufacturer to extract even more usable performance.
These improvements have reinforced Red Bull Powertrains’ position at the top of the internal combustion engine assessment, leaving Mercedes in the 2–4% deficit category and the remaining manufacturers further behind.
A particularly significant step came between the Baku and Sepang race weekends. Speaking to The Race, Red Bull Powertrains technical director Ben Hodgkinson identified this period as an important turning point in the team’s ability to extract performance from its engine.
From that point onwards, the power unit also became considerably more consistent, reducing the occasions when it was unable to deliver its maximum potential. The improvements were therefore not simply about achieving greater peak output, but also about making the available performance more consistently accessible.
What the latest FIA ADUO assessment means for Ferrari in 2027
The third ADUO assessment has therefore left the power unit manufacturers’ ranking unchanged, but it has confirmed that the competitive situation is far from static.
Ferrari’s two authorised upgrades have delivered a meaningful improvement, yet Red Bull and Mercedes have continued developing their existing power units through calibration, optimisation and a deeper understanding of their respective technologies.
That simultaneous progress has reduced the relative impact of Ferrari’s recovery, despite the additional development opportunities granted by the FIA.
For Maranello, the focus now shifts towards the larger upgrade planned for the beginning of 2027. The challenge will not simply be to recover the performance that Ferrari currently lacks, but to make sufficient progress against rivals who are continuing to improve.
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