The headline out of Monaco should have been Kimi Antonelli's fifth win on the bounce. Instead, the paddock spent Sunday digesting a single sheet of paper that could quietly reshape the 2026 title race.
It came from the FIA's first ADUO review of the year. Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities is the relief valve built into this season's frozen-engine rules: drop more than two percent behind the benchmark internal combustion engine and a development token opens up, fall more than four percent back and a second appears. Each slot also brings cost-cap room, letting teams spend beyond their limit to chase the gap.
The twist is the identity of that benchmark. As reported by The Race, the engine judged best on the combustion side is not Mercedes — winners of every race so far — but Red Bull Ford Powertrains. "Red Bull powertrains is the benchmark engine. Mercedes is second best, it's at least two percent behind, and Ferrari, Audi and Honda are further adrift," The Race's John Noble explained, with the formal document due out on Monday.
So the side that built the strongest engine is locked out of upgrading it, while the team cleaning up on Sundays collects a token. The leaked figures put Mercedes around 12 to 24 horsepower down and good for one slot. Ferrari, four to six percent behind, bank two and now hold more tokens than anyone. Audi take two as well; Honda sit furthest back in a six-to-eight percent bracket that frees up extra budget and time.
Opinions split sharply on what it all means. LawVS questioned the logic outright, pointing out Mercedes hardly need an extra dozen horsepower — Antonelli and George Russell won in Australia without it — and warning the rule could be gamed by the very teams it was built to contain. The Hot Lap took the opposite tack, hailing Red Bull Powertrains for topping the charts as a first-time manufacturer while insisting Mercedes remain the strongest overall package and may be flattering their own combustion numbers. Aidan Millward credited the FIA for trying to bunch the field, recalling the old token system that left Honda chasing its tail in 2015.
Lewis Hamilton supplied the driver's view. Speaking to Sky Sports F1, the Ferrari man confirmed the verdict and set out the order plainly: Red Bull's engine is the most powerful, Mercedes are second, Ferrari trail both. The upgrade tokens, he said, hand Ferrari the right to develop — but he tied a timeline of eight to ten months to any real benefit, ruling out a quick fix.
Worth remembering: ADUO only touches the V6 combustion engine, not the energy-recovery hardware where Mercedes' edge may actually sit. The full document is public on Monday, and Barcelona's high-speed corners will begin to show whether the verdict changes anything on track.
