United States Grand Prix: The FIA on Tuesday confirmed its third and final Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) review of the 2026 season, as no manufacturer will be getting extra upgrade tokens.
The FIA completed its third ADUO review, which covered the races 12 to 18 and the findings were shared with all the power unit manufacturers. The body confirmed that although the performance gaps between the manufacturers changed, they will not get additional homologated upgrades.
“For the third period, the relative performance gaps to the leading ICE evolved, but these changes did not result in any additional homologations being granted to the Power Unit Manufacturers,” FIA said in a statement.
This means that Red Bull-Ford will not be able to have additional power unit development allowances when they enter the next season. Red Bull was kept the benchmark for the internal combustion engine (ICE) performance earlier this year, despite Mercedes looking like the strongest team, especially in the first half of the 2026 season.
In its first assessment after the Canadian Grand Prix, the FIA had identified differences between the manufacturers, giving them additional homologations. Mercedes were determined to be within the 2-4% window, and were given an additional homologation in 2026 and an additional one next season too, together with corresponding cost cap and dyno testing increases.
Moreover, the likes of Audi, Ferrari and Honda were determined to be above 4% and were allowed two additional homologations this season and two in 2027, together with corresponding cost cap and dyno testing increases.
No additional homologations were granted during the second period, and it stays the same in its final assessment too, which means the results from the first review will remain the same.
“ADUO is a mechanism within the 2026 Formula 1 Technical Regulations (Article C4) allowing Power Unit manufacturers whose Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) performance falls at least 2% below the best-performing ICE across defined review periods to introduce additional homologated upgrades to their Power Unit during the current and following season, but also to benefit from additional Cost Cap and dyno testing allowances,” FIA said in a release.
“The level of ADUO is calculated over three periods in each season, with the level of allowance determined by the size of the performance gap to the leading ICE. The first review period was concluded after the Canadian Grand Prix, the second review period concluded after the Hungarian Grand Prix and the third review period concluded after the United States Grand Prix,” it added.
FIA Director of Single Seater, Nikolas Tombazis, also spoke on the assessments. “The FIA has undertaken extensive analysis as part of the review of ADUO this year. Based on the quality of the data and the robustness of the assessment process, we are confident in our findings and the conclusions reached.”
“The level of ADUO is calculated over three periods in each season, with the level of allowance determined by the size of the performance gap to the leading ICE. The first review period was concluded after the Canadian Grand Prix, the second review period concluded after the Hungarian Grand Prix and the third review period concluded after the United States Grand Prix,” it added.
Article Source: IANS
