What's behind the talks between the FIA president and Alonso over ADUO?

In his bid to remain on the Formula 1 grid in competitive fashion, two-time champion Fernando Alonso received backing at the highest echelon of motor racing.

Ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, both Alonso and Aston Martin team owner Lawrence Stroll held conversations with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem over the current plight of the Aston Martin-Honda partnership, which has endured a horrible start.

The timing of the team's slump is most inconvenient. Alonso, who has not hidden his disappointment with the new power unit regulations, has just turned 45 and is desperate for another spell of success in the twilight of his career, after years of making up the numbers.

The Spaniard is yet to confirm his plans for next year, at least in public, and Ben Sulayem appears to be alarmed by the prospect of the series losing one of its active world champions.

"There is no way we can allow Fernando Alonso, a great champion, to leave just because of the circumstances," Ben Sulayem said at an event in Madrid. "That's not the way to leave the stage.

"He has to be successful and then he leaves whenever he wants, not because he was forced to leave because of the performance. I will be speaking to him. I saw him very sad, and I said, 'Fernando, I understand, it's not acceptable that you are coming to your own country and now [as a] two-time world champion...'"

Ben Sulayem suggested he would do whatever it took to help Alonso drive a more competitive package. "We did something earlier, in May, legally for the team towards the engine to go and improve, and then I said to him: 'I am not going to tell you what we are going to do. Please tell me what you want because you are the driver. Come and tell me what you want us to do to improve these results.'"

Ben Sulayem with F1 chief Domenicali

Photo by: Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Images via Getty Images

Ben Sulayem's comments triggered some alarm in certain corners. After all, it wouldn't be the first time the president has struggled to stay in his lane. The Emirati has been accused of chipping away at the FIA's own governance guardrails during his time in power and on matters related specifically to F1, he marked the start of his tenure by encroaching on domains that either weren't his, or were subject to specific governance structures that require a majority.

That doesn't appear to be what's going on here, though. With the president well aware any power unit changes are controlled through the FIA F1 Power Unit Governance Agreement, voicing his concern over Alonso's future is understood to be part of a wider conversation on the imperfect ADUO upgrades system.

It doesn't seem to be much of a coincidence that Ben Sulayem made those comments on a stage in Madrid, either. The 64-year-old is no stranger to playing to the crowd, having recently visited Buenos Aires for the FIA's American Congress, where he vowed to support efforts to bring F1 back to Argentina - a domain fully controlled by F1 management rather than the FIA.

Now, Ben Sulayem has also scored an easy win in Spain, even though cynics suggest that Alonso has long made up his mind about continuing in 2027 and is simply playing games with the media and his fans, as he is known to do.

Honda's plight part of a wider ADUO concern

The bigger picture behind all this is that the FIA's ADUO system, short for Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities, is inherently imperfect.

Originally designed as a helping hand towards newcomers Red Bull-Ford and Audi, it was meant to avoid a repeat of Honda's 2015 woes. A scenario with one manufacturer so far off the pace that it has no hope of regaining competitiveness, hurting the championship as a whole and potentially driving the brand in question towards the exit doors.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images

Coincidentally, it is actually Honda that has needed the system once more, with both Red Bull and Audi making solid debuts as F1 power unit manufacturers. But rather than just helping out manufacturers who are completely off the pace, the system soon turned political with a sliding scale of upgrade help - in the form of additional dyno hours, cost cap headroom and tokens that can be deployed to introduce new power units mid-season - for every two percent a manufacturer is behind.

The only element taken into account is performance from the V6 engine, while the entire power unit can be developed using the homologation tokens. That means manufacturers could deliberately hold back V6 performance to hang onto their development tokens, while whoever has the leading engine can be frozen out.

Put in practice, that's what happened to Red Bull-Ford, which has been deeply upset at the FIA's measurements and how it appears to have been outmanoeuvred. Red Bull's head honcho Oliver Mintzlaff has even been personally involved in his team's debates with the FIA.

Mercedes, meanwhile, widely believed to have the best overall power unit package, qualifies for ADUO help based on the FIA's V6 measurements. Only basing the ADUO system on V6 power was a request from the manufacturers and something the parties reached a majority on, while the FIA would have been happy to take more factors into account.

But the noise and controversy surrounding the system, which has diverted FIA resources away from improving the regulations itself and fleshing out a return to V8s for the next cycle, means the governing body is not against revisiting the system this off-season within the existing governance framework. Additional measures to aid Honda could be part of those discussions.

Does Honda actually deserve more help?

Any additional help for Honda may arrive too late for the 45-year-old

Photo by: Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Images via Getty Images

One question is whether Honda deserves to be given further opportunities to improve, or whether it has now been assisted enough and it is up to the Japanese marque to recover.

As pointed out by Ben Sulayem, Honda has already received additional help in May, which involved additional budget headroom over the next two years to the tune of $19m, 11 million for falling over 10% behind and an extra eight million it can borrow against its own budget cap in future seasons. It has also been granted 230 dyno hours, up from 190.

But with the original objective of ADUO in mind, which is to avoid manufacturers getting caught out and pulling out, Ben Sulayem's suggestion to rethink what could be done for Honda have been met with approval by several competitors.

When quizzed on Ben Sulayem's Honda comments by Autosport, Mercedes F1 chief Toto Wolff was supportive of revisiting the regulations.

"I think ADUO was designed as a catch-up mechanism and that formula was unlocked for Honda and they need more," Wolff said.

"I think the conversation that the president had with Alonso is fair enough. We want to have all of these top constructors in the sport. We want them to be competitive and successful. Regs are regs for the best of the sport and sometimes maybe they need an adjustment."

Toto Wolff, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

While the position of the other manufacturers is not fully clear at this stage, Red Bull is naturally also keen to tweak the ADUO system after the way it was caught out this year.

"As stakeholders of the sport, if there is a situation that needs fixing or needs to be supported, we normally find solutions," team boss Laurent Mekies said.

"I'm sure that we will at some stage sit down and discuss the future of the ADUO regulations. The shortfalls, we know some of them, and I'm sure there are a few others to address."

ADUO is no silver bullet or balance of performance, after all, so it will still be up to Honda to develop its way back into contention. It is a hugely complex and expensive undertaking and there's a reason why Honda only brought one of its two ADUO tokens this year, instead focusing the bulk of its resources on a new power unit for 2027.

Regardless of what will be agreed this winter, though, Aston Martin and Honda are facing a long road back to competitiveness. For Alonso, it may not come fast enough.