How levelling the playing field isn’t antithetical to the principles of F1

Many would think that the idea of handicapping or any form of balance of performance is anathema to the purity of Formula 1 and yet we have the vestiges of that in two areas of the regulations. Introduced for the 2022 regulations was the idea of allowing teams lower in the constructors’ championship table increased wind tunnel time relative to those above them. In general, this was well received. It is mild in its effect and still relies on the intellect of the development aerodynamicists to turn opportunity into performance.

More controversial perhaps was the procedure introduced this year under the awful acronym of ADUO – Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities. ADUO is a system the FIA introduced to stop any engine manufacturer from falling too far behind during an engine freeze. Think of it as a safety net that prevents one team from being stuck with a slow engine for a prolonged period.

The current engine regulations effectively lock down the engine specification through homologation for the entire year, with minor and transparent changes made for reliability reasons if approved by the FIA. For 2027 each manufacturer is allowed to upgrade certain parts of the power unit, the allowable components being dictated by a table contained in the regulations.

For example, for 2027 the majority of the cylinder head, pistons, cam profiles and ports may be changed, but these changes would then have to go unchanged for the 2028 season with a further opportunity for change for 2029. Conversely, the MGU-K and the battery cannot be changed for 2027 but can be for 2028, with the later design having to remain unchanged for 2029. The idea of this is to control development within the power unit cost cap by cycling upgrades from year to year.

ADUO allows this rigid approach to be broken to allow a manufacturer who is suffering from a performance deficit to catch up. Unlike the aerodynamic test restriction allowance, the compensation is based on physical measurement of performance rather than championship position and can be enacted three times per year rather than annually.

The FIA measures engine power using sensors on the car that track how much power the engine sends to the gearbox. They also measure the hybrid motor separately so they can subtract its contribution. The assessment of the power of the internal combustion engine (ICE) is reasonably complex but comprehensive, although it must be made clear that it is only an assessment of the engine and not of the complete power unit. Energy efficiency and management of the hybrid system do not form part of the assessment.

Continual measurements are made with the car on track and assessment is made by determining an internal combustion engine power index. This index relies on measurements made during a race at all times that the car performance is power limited, essentially when it is at wide open throttle. A gated weighted average of the power is then applied as well as a weighting factor that takes into account the lap time sensitivity to power. If a team’s engine is measured to be significantly weaker, ADUO lets them make extra upgrades – basically giving them extra chances to improve their engine during the freeze.

The results are amassed over a series of races. The first series ended after May’s Canadian Grand Prix and resulted in the Red Bull ICE being the benchmark, with Mercedes being determined as having a 2% to 4% deficit and all others a deficit greater than 4%.

Mercedes and Ferrari are set to benefit from Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities

Photo by: Colin McMaster / LAT Images via Getty Images

This allows Mercedes to take one additional upgrade this year and one next year, and all other manufacturers to take two this year and next. Because upgrades cost money, the FIA temporarily raises the engine development budget for teams who qualify for ADUO. This additional allowance is $3million for the single upgrade and $4.65m for two upgrades. Hours spent on the dynamometer test benches are also increased with an additional 70 hours and 110 hours of running time respectively.

So ADUO is a complex process designed to alleviate the possibility of a performance deficit of a homologated engine being locked in all season during a mandated engine freeze. However, has it worked or does it destroy the engineering meritocracy that has always stood alongside operational eminence and driver skill as a key component of success?

To answer this, we need to examine the role of the sport. Is it a demonstration of a merit-based engineering and driving hierarchy or is it an entertainment relying on uncertain outcomes propagated by close racing?

Purists will probably lobby for the former, but the new demographic following the sport are much more likely to support the latter. To many, me included, a balance needs to be struck. Long term dominance as we saw with Michael Schumacher and Ferrari in the early 2000s saw audiences drop and, while the whole presentation of the sport is better today, I feel that the close racing we have seen in recent years has helped to strengthen our fan base.

In a world where performance is split between combustion, electrification, energy recovery, deployment strategies, and software, no single metric can ever tell the whole story

The sporting safety net that ADUO presents is designed primarily to stop a manufacturer being at a long-term deficit, but conversely it reduces the chance of long-term dominance during an engine freeze period.

However, it is not perfect. The current regulations place as much if not more emphasis on electrical energy management, an area completely outside the notion of ADUO. The highly specific metrics upon which it is judged can lead to distortion and the counter-intuitive finding that the Red Bull engine was at least 11bhp ahead of anything else. Some teams questioned whether the measurement method was fair, especially when it suggested Red Bull’s engine was far more powerful than expected.

Overall, I think ADUO is a genuine attempt by the FIA to protect the sport. ADUO is meant to keep the racing close. Whether it succeeds depends less on the system itself and more on the staggering complexity of modern F1 engines. In a world where performance is split between combustion, electrification, energy recovery, deployment strategies, and software, no single metric can ever tell the whole story. The FIA is trying to protect competition, but the technology makes it challenging.

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