Ex-F1 champion suggests teams could be "gaming" ADUO system after Red Bull engine deemed strongest

Red Bull remains in the dark over whether its internal combustion engine will still be considered Formula 1's strongest following a second review by the FIA. It comes after Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies stated that the FIA must be certain that Red Bull Ford indeed has the strongest internal combustion engine.

There has been some confusion why they are deemed to have the stronger engine than Mercedes, despite chasing the dominant team on the 2026 F1 grid.

Addressing the ADUO situation via ‘The Undercut with Damon Hill and Mark Hughes’ podcast, Hill, without mentioning teams, said: "It is quite interesting that we’re now getting people gaming the system, it seems.

“We believe that some teams may have more power than they’re showing, because they know they’re going to be penalised at a date with the ADUO development opportunity. So they’re going, ‘Well, I’m not going to show you what I’ve got until you’ve brought in the changes, and then after that, I’ll take the cape off and reveal my true identity.'”

Meanwhile, ahead of the Austrian GP, another former Formula One world champion, Jacques Villeneuve, has urged Red Bull to do everything they can to keep Max Verstappen.

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Show podcast, he said: "They need to find a way to try and keep him there because he's the only good thing in the team right now. Other than the engine, because as we found out the engine is very good. It's become a very political place in the last two or three years. It seems that there's so much internal strife on who's going to lead, who's going to do that, and everybody's been kicked out. It's really, and it's very difficult to see a good future at Red Bull it's really odd. It looks like they've read the wave. Right now they're going down, and they haven't reached bottom yet. So that's a tough one."