Why Ferrari’s ADUO power recovery plan may not solve the SF-26’s biggest weakness. Ferrari facing ADUO dilemma as SF-26 engine design could restrict progress.

After a break of more than a month, Formula 1 finally returned to action at the beginning of May following the opening three races of the 2026 season. It was an unexpectedly long pause, during which teams focused heavily on developing their cars in what effectively became a second starting point for the championship.

Ferrari was undoubtedly one of the teams that pushed hardest on development during that period, to the point that the SF-26 seen in Miami appeared significantly revised across almost every major area, with the clear ambition of taking the fight to Mercedes. To achieve that, the Scuderia introduced the so-called “Macarena” wing, an evolved FTM package, a new floor, and revised engine software.

Despite those efforts, however, Mercedes secured its fourth victory of the 2026 Formula 1 season, finishing ahead of a resurgent McLaren and Red Bull, while Ferrari slipped into the role of the fourth-fastest team on the grid.

A cold reality check raises fresh Ferrari questions

Contrary to expectations, Ferrari gave the impression that it had not progressed at the same rate as its direct rivals and was still unable to fight on equal terms. That picture became particularly clear when analysing the pace data from Florida, where Ferrari lacked the outright speed even to challenge for the podium, sitting more than three tenths adrift of Mercedes.

Part of that deficit appears to be linked to imperfect simulator correlation, an issue Lewis Hamilton openly addressed when he said: “We do simulations, then we get to the track and the car behaves differently…”

But the more significant concern appears to be the SF-26’s power unit deficit. Ferrari is believed to be trailing Mercedes by approximately 30 horsepower, a gap Maranello hopes to reduce through the development opportunities allowed under ADUO. Ferrari’s engine department is understood to be working intensely on that front, although, according to reports from internal sources, progress has not been straightforward.

Leo Turrini also addressed the possibility that the development freedom offered by ADUO may not deliver the expected gains for Ferrari, particularly if certain original engineering choices cannot be meaningfully changed during the season.

Is Ferrari trapped by its own design?

“What should we expect from the Canadian Grand Prix? After Suzuka on March 29, Formula 1 has effectively experienced just one race weekend. The war in the Gulf created another interruption, and in practice it felt like another winter break.

“Who made the best use of the long pause? ADUO, Aunt Adua’s husband, is not yet operational. Ferrari hopes that from June onwards it will at least be able to drastically reduce the power gap to Mercedes, which is believed to be around thirty horsepower.

“However, there is a problem within the problem: Maranello chose a smaller turbocharger by design. And perhaps that won’t adapt particularly well to the interventions allowed by Aunt Adua’s husband. In any case, we will see.

“In the immediate future, Montreal brings another Sprint weekend. At Ferrari, the message remains the same: we are not that far away, we just need to put all the pieces together, and so on.”

Ultimately, the technical hurdles surrounding Ferrari’s 2026 power unit architecture emphasize the high-stakes risk defining modern Formula 1 engine design. When an engineering department commits to a foundational layout—such as Maranello’s choice to run a more compact turbocharger package—they lock themselves into a specific thermodynamic operating window that cannot easily be altered under the sport’s strict homologation rules. While the ADUO framework is intended to offer a lifeline to manufacturers trailing the baseline performance curve, Leo Turrini’s insider insights reveal that software and fuel flow adjustments can only do so much if the physical hardware acts as a bottleneck. As the grid heads into the power-sensitive straights of Montreal, Ferrari’s immediate challenge shifts from pure engine development to damage limitation, forcing the team to extract every millisecond out of their aerodynamic package while they figure out how to bypass their structural horsepower deficit.