Red Bull's shocking ICE advantage could be a huge gift for Mercedes

Although the FIA has not yet officially released the results, GPblog has learned that the ADUO measurements show Red Bull Powertrains has the best ICE on the grid, despite data from the first six races suggesting Mercedes was the benchmark engine manufacturer.

The FIA's assessment reportedly places the German manufacturer around 2% behind Red Bull, while Ferrari is reported to be approximately 4% behind Red Bull.

This ranking could have a big impact on the engine development and consequently on performance not only in the remaining races of 2026, but for the first few races of 2027, as Red Bull Powertrains won’t be able to evolve their ICE until the first review period of 2027.

ADUO stands for “Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities” and is one of the key mechanisms introduced under Formula 1’s 2026 power-unit regulations.

The system is designed to help manufacturers close the gap to the leading Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) without introducing a full Balance of Performance model.

The 2026 F1 season has been divided into three main periods, and across these races the FIA evaluates the performance of every manufacturer’s ICE and calculates an “ICE Performance Index”, which determines whether a supplier qualifies for development concessions.

Manufacturers that are at least 2% behind the leading engine can introduce one performance update in both 2026 and 2027. If the gap exceeds 4%, they are permitted two updates during each season.

The new system also allows manufacturers that qualify for the ADUO to have additional financial resources within the cost cap to develop their ICEs.

Engine manufacturers who classify between 2% and 4% will have additional $3 million, while a gap between 4% and 6% unlocks additional $4.65 million, 6% to 8% earns $6.35 million, and manufacturers more than 8% behind receive an additional $8 million under the cost cap.

Before the Canadian Grand Prix, the final race of the FIA’s first measurement period for evaluating manufacturers’ ICEs, rumours were referring to the Mercedes engine as the best on the entire grid, leading everyone to believe they would top the list of ADUO regulations expected to be published after the Canadian Grand Prix.

This expectation stemmed from the dominance demonstrated by the Mercedes AMG F1 Team and the other Mercedes-powered cars in this first part of the season.

In addition to having won every race so far (including the Sprint races), the Mercedes-powered cars demonstrated an advantage over their rivals not only between Q2 and Q3, where an increase in power was noticeable, providing benefits especially in traction, but also during the lift-and-coast phase and superclipping at the end of the straights, where they were able to lose less top speed while simultaneously recharging their batteries.

This advantage emerged on highly demanding tracks from a motorsports perspective, including Melbourne, Suzuka, and Montreal, layouts where having a very powerful ICE can also be extremely beneficial for gaining an energy advantage.

However, during the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, multiple sources told GPblog that Red Bull had the best ICE, news that came as a shock to the entire paddock, but at the same time, was not entirely surprising.

During the first races of the season up until the Miami Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing struggled massively, failing to score a podium in the first three races of the year. The RB22 demonstrated major handling and driveability issues, displaying not only a lack of aerodynamic downforce but also obvious mechanical problems, resulting in an unstable and unresponsive car in all types of corners.

These problems had relegated Verstappen and Hadjar to battle with cars like Alpine and Haas for seventh and eighth place in China and Suzuka, demonstrating that Red Bull seemed light years behind the top teams in the early stages of the season.

However, starting from the Bahrain tests, the data showed that both the RB22 and the VCARB03 (also powered by a Red Bull-Ford engine) had excellent top speeds on the long straights. It's no coincidence that the Racing Bulls were one of the most difficult cars for their rivals to overtake in the early races of the season, a sign of an efficient engine and an excellent deployment strategy.

In the case of Red Bull Racing, however, the engine's power was completely overwhelmed by the enormous mechanical and aerodynamic challenges, which made the car undriveable in both slow and fast corners, offsetting the time gained on the straights.

The scenario changed significantly starting from the Miami Grand Prix, thanks to the introduction of an aerodynamically optimized "B" version of the car and a new steering column for Max Verstappen (who had flagged many problems with the car's feel during the first three races of the season).

Furthermore, starting from this Grand Prix, the FIA ​​introduced changes to energy deployment to make qualifying laps more engaging and reduce superclipping, placing greater emphasis on the ICEs.

All these elements made the RB22 completely different from the one in the first three races: although it still lacked some downforce compared to its rivals, the balance had significantly improved, giving Verstappen in particular the opportunity to extract the maximum potential from the car.

During Saturday's qualifying, the Dutch driver finished second, just 166 thousandths behind poleman Kimi Antonelli, marking a clear step forward compared to previous races.

In particular, analyzing the data after qualifying, it was seen how the RB22 excelled in terms of speed on the two long straights of the track, a sign that the engine guaranteed excellent performance in the absence of superclipping.

That's not all. Although during these first races, Mercedes was considered the car with the best engine on the grid, one hypothesis is that their advantage lies primarily in their energy management software and battery deployment and charging strategies.

It's no coincidence that both McLaren and Alpine struggled a bit in the first races to understand how the battery management software actually worked, a key component in unlocking performance, especially over a single qualifying lap.

This hypothesis could also be supported by the fact that both Mercedes and McLaren appear able to manage energy better in Q2 and Q3, having more energy available throughout the entire lap, which translates into better performance, especially on engine-limited tracks like Canada, where Mercedes and McLaren locked out the first two rows.

So what’s next? The FIA still haven’t published the official document yet, but from what GPblog has understood, Red Bull has been designated to have the best engine on the grid, but that comes with disadvantages.

The Milton Keynes team, in fact, won’t be able to work on their engine until the end of the year, while Mercedes will be allowed to bring one homologation update for the current season and one for the next season, being 2% behind Red Bull.

Ferrari is understood to be around 4% behind Red Bull, giving them even greater advantages, with two updates allowed for this season and another two for next season.

This will have a big impact on performance until Abu Dhabi: Mercedes has demonstrated that it has the fastest package, including the car’s balance and the engine performance, and will aim at increasing the gap to the other contenders with the introduction of changes on their ICE, securing their superiority even more.

Ferrari, on the other hand, will try to gain as much performance as possible with the updates to the ICE, since they already have a very balanced and quick car from a mechanical and aerodynamic point of view.

Red Bull Racing, meanwhile, can do nothing but try to maintain its advantage and improve the RB22’s aero-mechanical platform to take advantage of their ICE on all kinds of layouts, not only in qualifying but also during Sunday’s races.