Red Bull has been left “stunned” by the FIA’s decision to deem its Formula 1 power unit as the benchmark, thus, denying ADUO benefits.
The FIA has reportedly informed the teams about the status of the first ADUO list, with the Milton-Keynes-based team deemed to have the best engine on the grid so far.
The governing body of the sport had introduced the scheme to allow power unit manufacturers, lagging behind, to be able to develop its engine to maintain parity.
This will be a three-part initiative, through 2026, with the first list, reportedly, allowing Mercedes, Audi and Honda to obtain additional development and upgrade opportunities.
F1 commentator David Croft has called the FIA out on this, however, given how the results of the ADUO arrangement don’t seem to match what we are seeing out on track.
Mercedes are considered to be the benchmark of the field – leading the drivers’ and constructors’ championships comfortably – with Red Bull evidently struggling under the latest regulations.
“How have we got to a situation where the team with the best, from the outside, power unit and chassis package put together, now get upgrade opportunities alongside the team that it’s beating?” he told The F1 Show podcast.
“And the team that are struggling a little bit now suddenly has the best internal combustion engine and can’t make those upgrades?
“If this is some sort of balance of performance, it’s not exactly going to balance anything out. I don’t understand why we’ve got this in Formula 1. We’ve never had a balance of performance in the past. I don’t understand why we need it now.”
Red Bull “stunned” by F1 power unit judgement
As things stand, Red Bull won’t be allowed to make any changes to its power unit, developed in tandem with Ford. The German marque on the other hand will be able to develop its engine.
While the FIA nor the FOM have revealed the criteria upon which this decision was taken, it is reported that the engines were ranked solely on the basis of the internal combustion engine and not the battery.
Sky Sports F1 reporter, Craig Slater has revealed that the Austrian marque has been left “stunned” by this decision.
“I saw Laurent Mekies on the plane, he was on the same flight back as me, and he was heading straight to Milton Keynes,” he said.
“They haven’t said anything publicly on the record about this. They are quite stunned to be in this position, from what I can gather.
“I mean, it’s an achievement and a half, and we’ve got to pay tribute to Christian Horner and people like Ben Hodgkinson and Steve Brodie and all those that came from Brixworth to build that power unit.
“But it’s not flattening the sporting landscape. I can’t see how that is going to do it, because they need a bit of help, Red Bull.
“And then it doesn’t help Max’s cause if we’re concerned about keeping him in F1, keeping him competitive, so it’s a slightly strange one.”
Heading into the race-weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, it would appear that the RBPT power unit has quite a name to live up to.
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