The ADUO of discord
It was supposed to arrive before the Monaco Grand Prix, but after Barcelona, the first ADUO allocation for 2026 has not yet been formalized. Informally, the allocation bands were communicated to the teams on Saturday in Monte Carlo – with Red Bull as the benchmark, Mercedes at 2%, and Ferrari at 4%. A big discussion immediately arose behind the scenes about the situation of Mercedes, which is dominating the championship.
Read more Mercedes, the red alert is double: in addition to Ferrari, there’s also reliability anxiety
Why is only the thermal part measured? Tombazis answers
A possible answer could be that the ADUO bases its measurement solely on the ICE – the internal combustion engine – totally excluding the electrical part.
In this regard, it is interesting to know from Nikolas Tombazis – FIA technical director – how a measurement of this type was developed. The Greek engineer explained it to SoyMotor.
“The reason why the ADUO focuses on the combustion part is because there was a feeling that the electrical part would be the real battlefield, the area in which to compete and in which the best would win,” explained Tombazis, specifying: “Between late 2025 and early 2026, there was extensive discussion to define the details of the ADUO and we discussed whether or not to include secondary parameters. For example, if the temperature of an engine’s intake manifold is very high, this will have less power, but will also require less cooling and will have an aerodynamic advantage. Do we want to take this temperature into account? We discussed these things, the parameters that influence engine performance.”
Read more The “dilemma” of Alonso: Aston Martin, retirement and the Alpine hypothesis
The FIA was open to developing a more complex measurement, but it encountered a wall: “The position of the engine manufacturers in those discussions was to keep things as simple as possible. To focus solely on power. We responded that we were fine with that and that we accepted the position of simplifying things as much as possible.”
Tombazis reiterated that the FIA adapted: “We could have had a much more complex equation, but they wanted to make it as simple as possible.”
The measurement is based on a torque sensor between the engine and the gearbox and focuses on thermal power. However, there are some adjustments, as explained by Tombazis to FormulaPassion last April.
Read more Red Bull, updates in Austria. Mekies: “We hope to reduce the gap”
