Ferrari’s ADUO 2 engine upgrade falls short of closing power gap with Mercedes

Summary

Ferrari's recent engine upgrades, including the second ADUO 2 iteration, have not delivered the expected performance boost. The team remains behind competitors like Mercedes in 'pure power,' with Ferrari's engine still lacking in this critical area. Oliver Bearman confirmed the upgrade didn't provide a significant gain, and team boss Fred Vasseur anticipated the shortfall, highlighting ongoing challenges in matching top engine performance in F1.

The Full Story

Ferrari’s second round of power unit upgrades under Formula 1’s ADUO scheme has failed to deliver the pure power gains the team hoped for, leaving the SF-26 still trailing the front-running Mercedes engine. Despite debuting the updated power unit at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were unable to match the pace of Mercedes-powered rivals, with Leclerc qualifying on the second row behind Pierre Gasly and George Russell.

Team Principal Fred Vasseur acknowledged the shortfall, explaining that the team remains “missing pure power” despite the improvements. He pointed out that at power-sensitive circuits like Monza, the deficit to Mercedes is magnified, describing the gap as “two times bigger” than it would be at a track like Zandvoort. Vasseur said the team has tried to compensate through deployment strategies-adjusting how power is delivered on straights-but warned this approach has limitations and risks creating other performance trade-offs.

The ADUO 2 upgrade, which allowed further modifications to the engine formula, was not expected to be a “game changer,” according to Ferrari’s junior driver Oliver Bearman, who noted the performance gain was not significant. Vasseur emphasized the long and costly development process required to improve power units under the current cost cap and production constraints. He set 2027 as the year when Ferrari hopes to close the competitive gap more substantially.

The Italian GP also highlighted the challenge for Ferrari’s customer team Haas, which runs a version of the Ferrari power unit. Haas driver Oliver Bearman confirmed that the ADUO 2 upgrade did not translate into a meaningful performance boost for his team either, underscoring the broader limitations of the current engine package.

While Ferrari’s incremental upgrades have brought some progress, the team remains behind Mercedes and McLaren in terms of outright engine power. Vasseur’s comments underline the uphill battle Ferrari faces to regain the top step in the power unit race, especially on circuits where engine performance is critical. The coming months will test how the team manages development within the ADUO framework and whether further gains can be extracted before the 2027 engine regulations reset the playing field.