The FIA’s first official ADUO rankings have produced one of the most striking contrasts of the 2026 Formula 1 season. Red Bull’s internal combustion engine has been classified as the benchmark under the new system, yet Mercedes-powered cars have led 605 race laps so far, compared with only eight for Red Bull-powered machinery.
The discrepancy does not mean the FIA calculation is necessarily incorrect, because ADUO evaluates only the performance of the internal combustion engine rather than the complete power unit or the competitiveness of the entire car. Even so, when the official ranking is placed alongside the numbers produced on track, the outcome is difficult to reconcile from a fan’s perspective.
How the FIA ADUO engine ranking works
After months of speculation and uncertainty, the FIA published the official data covering the first two ADUO assessment periods on 26 August. The mechanism was introduced with this year’s technical regulations and is designed to give additional development opportunities to power unit manufacturers whose internal combustion engine, or ICE, is judged to be less competitive.
The ranking placed Red Bull at the top, ahead of Mercedes. The Mercedes ICE was assessed as being between two and four per cent behind the benchmark, while Audi, Ferrari and Honda were all classified as more than four per cent adrift.
Those figures determine the development concessions available to each manufacturer. Mercedes will receive one development token for 2026 and another for 2027. Audi, Ferrari and Honda will each be entitled to two tokens this year and another two next season. Red Bull, by contrast, will not be allowed to develop its power unit under the mechanism because it has been classified as the reference.
For Ferrari, the ranking has particular significance because the Scuderia remains in the group assessed as more than four per cent behind the leading ICE. The classification comes as Maranello continues its broader power unit and SF-26 development programme, including work aimed at reducing its deficit to the strongest engines on the grid.
Mercedes leads 605 laps despite Red Bull topping the ADUO ranking
The difficulty comes when the FIA ranking is compared with the results from the first half of the championship. Of the 12 races held so far, 10 have been won by Mercedes-powered cars, while Ferrari has taken the remaining two victories.
The laps-led statistics make the contrast even more pronounced. Mercedes-powered cars have completed 605 race laps at the front, equivalent to 2,872 kilometres. Ferrari-powered cars have led 132 laps, covering 718 kilometres, while Red Bull-powered cars have managed just eight laps in the lead, or 36 kilometres.
There is an important numerical factor behind those totals. Mercedes supplies eight cars, compared with six using Ferrari power, four running Red Bull units and only two each for Honda and Audi. Even allowing for the different number of cars available to each manufacturer, however, the scale of the gap remains considerable.
The contrast also helps explain why power unit performance has become such an important technical theme in 2026. Ferrari, for example, has had to manage both the combustion and hybrid sides of its package, with recent analysis showing how hybrid deployment issues complicated the SF-26’s performance at Zandvoort.
Why the ADUO result can differ from what fans see on track
The key distinction is that ADUO measures only the performance of the thermal component inside the power unit. It does not attempt to rank the overall competitiveness of the complete hybrid system, nor does it account for chassis performance, aerodynamics, tyre management, race strategy or the quality of the cars using each engine.
Before the championship began, the teams themselves opposed more complicated assessment methods that would have produced a broader, more complete comparison between the different power units. The result is a system that isolates the ICE and can therefore produce a ranking very different from what the race results alone might suggest.
The FIA has carried out its calculations according to the methodology established in the regulations, and there is no reason within that framework to doubt that Red Bull’s Milton Keynes-built ICE emerged as the strongest in the assessment.
From the perspective of supporters, however, the picture remains difficult to digest. A Mercedes engine family that has powered cars for more than 2,800 kilometres at the front of races is eligible for additional development, while Red Bull, whose cars have led fewer than 40 kilometres, is regarded as the category benchmark and receives no development concession.
Ferrari remains among the manufacturers with the largest ADUO deficit
The situation is particularly relevant for Ferrari because the Maranello power unit remains in the group assessed as more than four per cent away from the benchmark. That classification gives Ferrari two development tokens for 2026 and two more for 2027.
The Scuderia is already preparing further work on its current package. Ferrari is expected to introduce its evolved ADUO-2 specification at Monza, where the long straights of the Italian Grand Prix will provide a particularly revealing test of outright power and energy deployment.
More broadly, the ADUO rankings underline how difficult it can be to judge Formula 1 engine performance simply from race results. Mercedes has so far dominated the laps-led statistics, Ferrari sits comfortably ahead of Red Bull by the same measure, yet the FIA’s dedicated ICE assessment produces almost the opposite picture at the very top.
That is the reality created by the current methodology: Red Bull is formally the thermal-engine reference, Mercedes qualifies for limited extra development, and Ferrari, Audi and Honda receive the greatest concessions. For anyone looking only at what has happened at the front of the field during the first 12 races, however, the 605-to-eight comparison remains one of the most striking statistics of the 2026 season.
