Championship (partially) open
After seeing Mercedes celebrate on the top step of the podium six times in the first six races, Ferrari has managed – somewhat surprisingly – to raise its head: the Reds arrived at Spa-Francorchamps strong with two wins in the last three races. An unexpected revival that has put the Maranello team in a position to try to trouble the silver arrows in the race for the World title. Obviously, the favorites for the title are still all for Antonelli and Russell, but the reliability issues that have hit the two W17s on several occasions leave a small opening for the unpredictable.
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The main weakness of Ferrari compared to Mercedes is well known: the power of the power unit. The controversial and debated ADUO system, which Ferrari can use to try to close the gap with the Brixworth engines, allows Maranello a maximum of two power unit upgrades for this year. The first, with minimal impact, was introduced during the Austrian Grand Prix weekend and according to estimates circulating in the paddock would have provided no more than 5-6 extra horsepower from the thermal engine perspective to the SF-26.
Monza target
However, Ferrari management had quite clearly hinted that the most significant step would come with the ‘ADUO-2’ engine. Now there is also a presumed date when this upgrade should be ready: according to what colleague Giuliano Duchessa wrote in Corriere della Sera, Ferrari’s intention would be to ‘unveil’ the new power unit at Monza. However, this is not a given target, representing the most optimistic option and to be realized it needs everything to go smoothly in the tests that will be done, especially from the reliability point of view.
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It should not be forgotten that, surprisingly, Mercedes will also be able to count on a ‘bonus’ provided by ADUO since the best thermal engine seems to be Red Bull’s according to FIA analyses. However, the team led by Toto Wolff seems intent on using the development token entirely with a 2027 outlook, giving up the possibility of upgrading its power unit this year also to force Red Bull to remain ‘locked’ at the top of this value ranking and thus in turn not have the possibility to play any upgrade token.
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