Fred Vasseur addresses Ferrari’s ADUO engine upgrades after F1 Canadian GP. Frederic Vasseur has addressed Ferrari’s ADUO hopes after the Canadian GP.

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has once again spoken about ADUO, the FIA system that could allow the Scuderia to recover some of the horsepower deficit to Mercedes through power unit development concessions. Following the Canadian Grand Prix, attention is now focused on the FIA’s upcoming decisions based on the Performance Index, with Ferrari hoping for clarity in the coming days.

The Ferrari boss revisited the topic after the Canadian weekend, while Lewis Hamilton also reflected on the performance gap that continues to make life difficult for the Italian team in race conditions.

“Is the whole world waiting to see who will use ADUO? I don’t know if the whole world is, but we’ll see the FIA’s position in the coming days,” Frederic Vasseur said after the Canadian Grand Prix.

In both Miami and Montreal, the difference in power unit performance appeared significant, raising the obvious question: what could Ferrari realistically achieve through ADUO?

First of all, Ferrari could potentially update at least one engine component, with a revised internal combustion engine reportedly targeted for introduction at the Belgian Grand Prix. That said, it is important to be realistic. Recovering a 30-horsepower deficit with a single development token would be virtually impossible, and closing the gap would require a much longer and more gradual development effort.

However, if Ferrari were to secure concessions above the 4% threshold, that would represent a major boost for the Maranello team and could significantly improve its chances of reducing the current performance shortfall over time.

Lewis Hamilton’s second-place finish in Canada underlined both Ferrari’s progress and its limitations. While the seven-time world champion secured another strong podium result, overtaking Max Verstappen’s Red Bull was far from straightforward due to the power imbalance.

“It’s really difficult to overtake in the race. These guys (Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen, editor’s note) have more power in the race, so every time I gain speed through the corners, they get it back on the straights,” Lewis Hamilton explained – “I’ve never seen anything so difficult. It’s like it’s 10 times harder than normal, because you have to calculate how much battery charge you’ll have left at the end of one straight, and then the next one, and every time you have to make an approximate estimate of how much energy will be available.” – the British driver pointed out.

Lewis Hamilton’s comments offer a revealing insight into the competitive challenge Ferrari currently faces. While chassis performance and cornering speed may allow the SF-26 to stay in contention, the power deficit remains a major obstacle in direct wheel-to-wheel battles, especially against rivals with stronger deployment and outright straight-line speed.