Before the FIA officially communicates its findings to the public, Lewis Hamilton has revealed that the governing body has already sent the ADUO (Engine Development Underperformance Adjustment) figures to the teams, and there is no shortage of surprises. Red Bull reportedly possesses the best internal combustion engine on the grid, followed by Mercedes, while Ferrari has qualified for ADUO concessions, allowing the Italian team to introduce performance upgrades in the coming months.
On the eve of the Monaco Grand Prix, all of Ferrari’s primary rivals had pointed to the Scuderia as the outright favorites. This was largely due to the unique characteristics of the Monte Carlo street circuit, where outright engine power plays a significantly smaller role compared to other venues—precisely the area where the Prancing Horse still suffers its most visible performance deficit to the competition.
However, the long-awaited victory failed to materialize in the Principality, yielding only a lonely second-place finish courtesy of Hamilton. Beyond the podium result, it was a race that saw the British veteran completely out of the fight for the win; before the late-race red flag, he was trailing the leader by over twenty seconds. While that represents a significant deficit, the mood within Ferrari remains pragmatic, with the engineering team fully aware that they are currently maximizing exactly what the SF-26 package has to offer.
It is no secret that Maranello is still lacking in absolute horsepower compared to its direct rivals, but the incoming ADUO framework will provide a concrete opportunity to bridge that gap and edge closer to the frontrunners. Speaking on this exact topic, even though the FIA has not yet formally published the data, Hamilton took it upon himself to break the news regarding the governing body’s performance parameters.
Following the Canadian Grand Prix, the Federation had a strict fifteen-day window to publish its official results. While these documents have not yet been distributed to the public or the media, the teams have already been granted access to review the data analyzed by the governing body. From those initial assessments, major shocks have emerged.
It is worth remembering that when evaluating the parameters required to award ADUO concessions, the FIA exclusively measures the power output of the internal combustion engine (ICE) as a pure value, completely omitting any electrical deployment from the hybrid systems. According to the seven-time world champion, the highest-performing engine is not the one designed by Mercedes, but rather the unit built by Red Bull Powertrains.
This comes as a massive surprise, especially when considering that just a few seasons ago, the Milton Keynes squad did not even possess a dedicated facility to manufacture its own power units. However, Red Bull successfully executed an incredibly aggressive recruitment campaign, headhunting some of the finest engineering minds from rival manufacturers, including several high-profile ex-Honda figures after the Japanese brand initially chose to exit its F1 project.
Ferrari secures development tokens to bridge the gap
Behind Red Bull and Mercedes, the third most competitive engine on the 2026 grid belongs to Ferrari. Consequently, the Scuderia will be granted full access to the ADUO framework, allowing them to modify and upgrade their power unit in search of vital performance.
“I think the news came out yesterday or today: Red Bull has the most powerful engine, Mercedes is second and we are behind. Now we have these tokens to try to develop and close the gap,” Hamilton stated openly following the conclusion of the Monaco Grand Prix.
Naturally, designing a heavily revised engine to completely wipe out a performance deficit takes months. This does not mean the Scuderia won’t introduce smaller upgrades in the short term, but realistically, as Mattia Binotto has previously pointed out, it will take considerable time to completely erase the gap to the front. It is no coincidence that Audi, who currently possesses the fourth-best engine just ahead of Honda, has publicly set its targets on achieving performance parity only by 2028.
“We are talking about an eight to ten-month project, it’s not something we can do next week. We will push as much as possible to understand how to reduce the gap,” Hamilton added. For the upcoming trip to Spain, the Scuderia is still expected to introduce a planned aerodynamic update package, especially since the permanent Barcelona circuit represents the absolute ideal test track to evaluate a car’s aerodynamic baseline and the validity of new components.
“For the next race, I hope we can manage to add some components to the car to try to get closer, but it will be difficult to beat them. Right now [Mercedes] are simply on another level, and I’m really happy for them. It’s my old family, my old team. And when they are at their best, they become really, really very difficult for anyone to beat,” Lewis Hamilton concluded.
Lewis Hamilton’s fascinating disclosure of the confidential FIA ADUO data therefore highlights the massive technical challenge currently facing Scuderia Ferrari’s engine department. While the acquisition of development tokens provides a clear roadmap to unlock much-needed horsepower from their internal combustion engine over the next eight to ten months, the immediate priority shifts to Barcelona, where upcoming aerodynamic upgrades will reveal if Ferrari can close the deficit to a rapidly resurgent Mercedes team.
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