Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has appealed to the sport’s governing body, the FIA, to guarantee that the new regulations permitting power‑unit manufacturers to develop their engines throughout the 2026 campaign do not upset the established order of competition in Formula 1. The 2026 technical package includes a performance‑balancing provision designed to give teams that fall behind the leading engine supplier a chance to catch up, but Wolff stresses that the system must not become a tool for dramatic reshuffling of the championship standings. Under the updated power‑unit rules, the FIA has introduced three distinct windows for what are called Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO).
These windows will be opened for any manufacturer whose internal‑combustion engine is assessed to be at least two percent slower than the benchmark set by the fastest unit on the grid. The intention, according to the rule‑book, is to provide a modest performance boost to lagging teams without allowing them to overtake the frontrunners in a single step. The FIA is expected to publish detailed guidance on how the ADUO mechanism will be applied before the next race weekend in Miami. Mercedes currently sit atop the championship, having won each of the first three Grands Prix, and Wolff wants to ensure that any future upgrades granted to rival power‑unit makers are administered with absolute precision, transparency and fairness.
Speaking earlier this week, Wolff explained the philosophy behind the ADUO clause: "The principle of the ADUO was to allow teams that were on the back foot in terms of the power unit to catch up, but not to leapfrog. It needs to be very clear that whatever decisions are being made, whichever team is granted ADUO, that any such decision may have a big impact on the performance picture and on the championship, if not done with absolute precision and clarity and transparency." He added that any form of gamesmanship would be unacceptable and that the FIA must act in the spirit of preserving a level playing field: "It needs to be clear that gamesmanship hasn't got any place here, but it needs to be with the right spirit here that the FIA acts upon an ADUO." Mercedes’ own power unit, built in‑house, is currently the yardstick against which other manufacturers will be measured.
As a result, the Silver Arrows are likely to become the reference point for any ADUO allocations, potentially giving teams like Ferrari, Honda (supplying Aston Martin), or even the newly independent Red Bull Powertrains a chance to narrow the gap. Wolff hinted that, in his view, Honda may be the only supplier that truly needs assistance: "The teams will have their performance pictures and, as it seems for me, there's one engine manufacturer that has a problem and we need to help. And then all the others are pretty much in the same ballpark.
So, I would be very surprised, actually, and disappointed if ADUO decisions that were done would come up with any interferences into the competitive pecking order as it stands at the moment." Mercedes not only runs its own engines but also supplies three customer teams—McLaren, Alpine and Williams. Ferrari, another works team, provides power units to Haas and the newly entered Cadillac. Red Bull, after years of using Honda units, now runs its own engine and supplies its junior outfit, Racing Bulls. Audi, meanwhile, is a works team without any customer customers.
The closest challenger to Mercedes in the opening rounds has been Ferrari. Team principal Fred Vasseur has spoken publicly about using ADUO as a tool to "close the gap" to the Silver Arrows. When asked whether a Ferrari‑focused ADUO could force Mercedes into a reactive mode later in the season, Wolff replied that he is not so much worried as he is vigilant: "I wouldn't call it worried.
I think we are all monitoring how decisions are being made. And we have precise data from our own analytics of where we see engine performance of our competitors and ourselves.
In that respect, I think the FIA is looking at the same data and the FIA certainly, I would very much hope that they continue to see themselves as protecting the integrity of the sport. Because you don't want to allow an ADUO to a team that suddenly leapfrogs someone. The ADUO was always meant as a catch‑up mechanism and not as a leapfrog mechanism." The upcoming Miami Grand Prix, scheduled for May 1‑3, will be the second sprint weekend of the season and will provide the first real test of how the FIA interprets and enforces the ADUO clauses.
Sky Sports F1 will broadcast the event live, and fans can also stream the race via NOW without a long‑term contract. In summary, Wolff’s message to the FIA is unequivocal: the ADUO system should be applied with surgical precision, ensuring that any performance gains are modest, transparent and aimed solely at narrowing existing gaps rather than reshaping the championship hierarchy. By doing so, the sport can maintain the competitive integrity that fans and teams alike expect, while still offering a safety valve for manufacturers that find themselves lagging behind in the new hybrid‑era power‑unit landscape.