Red Bull eager for further ADUO talks with FIA and other power unit manufacturers

Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies says the team would "certainly welcome" a discussion with the FIA and other power unit manufacturers on evolving F1's ADUO rules.

In its first year of operation, and in the all-new power unit era, Red Bull's in-house Red Bull Powertrains engine has been deemed the benchmark by the FIA in terms of the Additional Upgrade and Development Opportunities metric.

ADUO only measures internal combustion engine power as opposed to the battery systems which make up 50% of the power output, with RBPT being deemed to be the class-leader, despite Mercedes HPP units having won 13 of the 15 grands prix, and taken all 15 pole positions thus far.

Mercedes HPP was awarded ADUO, which allows it to bring one upgrade to its engine in both 2026 and 2027, whilst RBPT is allowed zero, with ADUO being used as an upgrade allowance, with the designs having been homologated at the start of the season. 

Other power unit manufacturers, Audi, Ferrari, and Honda were each awarded two ADUO upgrades per year as they were deemed to be further behind RBPT than Mercedes.

The decision not to award RBPT ADUO caused some surprise, with RBPT seeking explanations, but moving forward, Mekies is keen to "concentrate on ourselves", after holding talks with the FIA and its fellow PUMs on how to "evolve" ADUO. 

"Look, in terms of wanting to evolve the ADUO regulations, I think we can probably agree that the regulations were not exactly perfect," Mekies told media, including RacingNews365. 

"We will certainly welcome a discussion on making them evolve. I’m sure that sooner or later we’ll have these discussions with the FIA and the PU manufacturers. 

"In the meantime, we have tried to make our point quite clear about where we think we can agree and where we think we don’t agree. 

"And at some stage, we need to concentrate on ourselves and do the best job possible with the regulations we have."

The article continues below. 

Audi weigh in on ADUO

Audi is in its first season in grand prix racing, and created its own in-house power unit, and been awarded two ADUO upgrades.

Its boss, Mattia Binotto believes that the ADUO concept is "still valid" but that it requires some "fine-tuning."

"The current system: first, the regulation has been put in place as a safety net for the manufacturers who were clearly behind and had to catch up, or not be staying frozen in a difficult situation for five seasons," said Binotto.

"The second was to support convergence, and this is what the main two concepts of regulations are. So, safety net and convergence.

"If you look at how these things have developed, as I think Laurent mentioned, it’s not ideal yet.

"Fine-tuning is required. You may be trapped in a situation where maybe a top team got the opportunity for development, but that cannot be a safety net or convergence in the end. 

"So how to develop better regulation, I think, is exactly the discussion we need to have with the FIA. The ADUO concept is still valid. The fine-tuning is required."