Ferrari claimed victory at the British Grand Prix with Charles Leclerc after an outstanding weekend in terms of Power Unit optimization. Here’s when the expected ADUO 2 engine upgrade should arrive—and why Mercedes can no longer afford to underestimate the Scuderia.
The Maranello team secured its second win of the season at Silverstone, with Leclerc finally looking completely comfortable behind the wheel of the SF-26. Lewis Hamilton finished third, further highlighting just how competitive Ferrari had become on a circuit where expectations had been far more modest. Attention is now turning to the next step in Ferrari’s development programme: the ADUO 2 engine upgrade.
Ferrari shows its strength, ADUO 2 expected within the next five races
The Prancing Horse demonstrated that it can be a genuine threat to its rivals even at circuits that, on paper, do not suit the SF-26. So what changed compared to Austria?
First of all, the high altitude at the Red Bull Ring prevented the Italian team from fully exploiting its Power Unit. At Silverstone, however, Ferrari was able to run a more aggressive hybrid deployment map while also reducing aerodynamic drag, resulting in an estimated gain of around 15 kW—equivalent to nearly 20 horsepower.
Ferrari optimized the overall package and put Mercedes under pressure at Silverstone thanks to intelligent energy deployment throughout the lap. The question now is whether Toto Wolff has no choice but to start viewing the Maranello squad as a genuine championship threat.
The SF-26 remains one of the most innovative cars on the grid, introducing original aerodynamic and chassis concepts that have often been copied by rival teams. The work carried out in Maranello by Loïc Serra, Diego Tondi, Frank Sanchez and the rest of Ferrari’s technical staff has been exceptional.
The team’s two major upgrade packages are believed to have improved the car by around seven to eight tenths of a second. On top of that, Ferrari continues to introduce smaller updates almost every race weekend, including the medium-to-low-downforce floor specification and revised rear brake ducts. It is hardly surprising that Wolff has begun paying closer attention.
The Mercedes team principal recently pointed to Ferrari’s aggressive development programme, suggesting that the Scuderia would eventually run into the constraints imposed by the budget cap. Fred Vasseur was reportedly irritated by those comments, especially considering the long-standing friendship between the two team bosses.
At the moment, Ferrari’s only clear weakness remains its Power Unit.
According to information from AutoRacer.it, following the first ADUO homologation introduced in Austria—combined with the more aggressive software mapping debuted in Barcelona—the team is now preparing the second stage of the programme.
The ADUO 2 upgrade is expected to arrive within the next five Grands Prix and is believed to focus primarily on the turbocharger, one of the components Ferrari engineers feel still offers significant room for improvement compared to the class-leading Power Units.
It is worth remembering that Ferrari deliberately chose a slightly smaller turbocharger in order to improve low-RPM power delivery and launch performance. Despite the encouraging progress, nobody inside the team believes the championship has suddenly been transformed overnight.
Nevertheless, the atmosphere has clearly changed. Mercedes is now keeping a much closer eye on Ferrari because the SF-26 has become a far more dangerous rival than it appeared at the start of the season.
Leave a Reply