Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has publicly appealed to the sport’s governing body, the FIA, to make sure that the new 2026 power‑unit regulations – which permit manufacturers to develop their engines during the season – do not upset the established order of competition in Formula 1. The 2026 technical package introduces a performance‑balancing mechanism known as Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO). Under this system, any power‑unit maker that finds itself at least two per cent behind the leading internal‑combustion engine in terms of performance will be granted three distinct windows during the season in which it may introduce upgrades. The intention, according to the rule‑book, is to give lagging teams a chance to close the gap without allowing them to overtake the frontrunners in a single leap.
The FIA is expected to clarify how these provisions will be applied before the next race weekend in Miami, where Mercedes enters the event with a clean sweep of the first three Grand Prix. The German outfit’s own engine, built in‑house, has set the benchmark for the year, and Wolff wants to ensure that any ADUO allocations are handled with absolute precision, transparency and fairness.
Speaking earlier in the week, Wolff explained the philosophy behind the ADUO rule: “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.” He warned that any decision on who receives an upgrade window could dramatically reshape the performance landscape and, by extension, the championship battle, if the process is not carried out with crystal‑clear criteria. He added, “It needs to be very clear that gamesmanship has no place here.
The FIA must act in the right spirit, with absolute clarity and transparency, so that the competitive order is preserved.” Mercedes’ dominance in the opening stages of the season has made its power unit the de‑facto reference point for other manufacturers. While the team supplies its own cars, it also provides engines to three customer squads – McLaren, Alpine and Williams. Ferrari, another works team, supplies Haas and Cadillac, whereas Red Bull has recently brought its own power unit to market and supplies its junior team, Racing Bulls. Audi, meanwhile, operates as a works team without any customer arrangements.
Wolff hinted that, of all the manufacturers, only Honda – which currently powers Aston Martin – appears to need genuine assistance under the ADUO framework. “There’s one engine manufacturer that has a problem and we need to help.
The others are pretty much in the same ballpark,” he said, suggesting that any ADUO granted to Honda should not upset the overall hierarchy. Ferrari, Mercedes’ closest rival in the early standings, has welcomed the prospect of ADUO as a means to narrow the gap to the Silver Arrows. Team principal Fred Vasseur has spoken about using the extra development windows to "close the gap" to Mercedes. When asked whether a Ferrari ADUO could threaten Mercedes’ lead later in the season, Wolff replied, “I wouldn’t call it worried.
We are all monitoring how decisions are being made.” He emphasized that Mercedes relies on precise data analytics to track both its own engine performance and that of its competitors, and he trusts that the FIA is using the same data to protect the sport’s integrity. Wolff stressed that the ADUO system was designed as a catch‑up tool, not a leap‑frog mechanism. “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,” he said. The upcoming Miami Grand Prix, which will also host the second Sprint weekend of the season, will be a crucial test of how the FIA implements the ADUO rules.
Sky Sports F1 will broadcast the event live, and fans can stream the race without a contract via NOW, with the option to cancel at any time. In summary, Wolff’s message to the FIA is clear: the governing body must apply the ADUO provisions with utmost precision, ensuring that any granted upgrades serve to level the playing field rather than reshuffle the competitive order. By maintaining transparency and basing decisions on objective performance data, the FIA can help preserve the integrity of Formula 1 while still offering struggling manufacturers a fair chance to improve their engines throughout the 2026 season.